Blonde Haired Devil
by andrew9495
Summary: What if Naruto turned into a devil? Naruto's story takes a twist as the Kyuubi turns him into a devil. What trials await our hero in the future? Naruharem
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

* * *

_Dear Diary,_

_Today was one hell of a day. Konoha was attacked by the Kyuubi, the Yondaime had to sacrifice himself to seal the bijuu into a newborn kid, resulting in that old coot to regain the Hokage title. Yeah, today was one hell of a day. This is just great. Not only did I lose a lot of forces during this battle, now I have to worry about competition. The Jinchuriki needs to be kept under constant watch, because I can't have him trying to get the territory for himself. I have worked too hard to get to the position I am now. There is no way I am going to give it up._

_October 10__th __xxxx_

* * *

_10/10/xxxx_

_Ugh, damn paperwork. I still can't believe why I even bother writing a diary. Oh, I remember. I wrote a diary because I _didn't _have to deal with paperwork. I had passed it on to Minato. How could you do it to me Minato! Do you have any idea how hard I had to look for to find a proper candidate for the Hokage? I mean, sure there was Orochimaru, but that's just it. He was Orochimaru. I had to wait so damn long to hand over the baton and you go and sacrifice yourself before even a decade had passed._

_Ehm, getting away from the topic. Anyway, so Minato did the noble thing by sacrificing himself to seal the Kyuubi. But did he have to seal it in his own son? I mean, I know that only a newborn can be a jinchuriki and only an Uzumaki could withstand the power of the Kyuubi, but still, his own son? That just takes the cake. _

_I had to make a law just to ensure that no one from the kid's generation would find out about his special condition. I mean, the whole civilian council was out for his blood just because the Kyuubi was sealed in him .I had to explain how the seal worked before they even calmed down, though I doubt most even understood what I said._

_Minato, what were you thinking?_

* * *

_10__th__ October xxxx_

_Damn Sarutobi and his kindness. While Minato's death was a blow to the power of Konoha, we could become even stronger with the power of the jinchuriki. I even offered to train the brat into a weapon, but noooo, Sarutobi's bleeding heart couldn't stand the notion of a child being trained as an assassin. He fails to understand that our world is such that the strong eats the weak. We cannot afford to be weak, especially not after such an incident._

_N.B. Keep an eye out on the Kyuubi brat. Maybe I could recruit him independently._

* * *

_Che, what a drag._

* * *

_xxxx, October 10__th_

_So, the Kyuubi has been sealed. We need to keep an eye out on the brat. From what I hear, the boy could very easily release the Kyuubi inside of him. We can't have him do that to us. We need to ensure that the brat is not a danger to us. Maybe we should try and control him somehow? That's something worth trying._


	2. A date with death

**Author's Note: Ok, so this is the first chapter of my first ever story "Blonde Haired Devil". *queue cheers***

**Now a few things to note. This is a crossover story. While the main crossover in the story comes from Naruto and High School DxD, you can expect crossovers from many different stories.  
**

**Also, English is my second language. While I take pride in my language skills, do take it into account if you come across any spelling or grammatical mistakes. I would be happy, though, if you did let me know if you find any.**

**There's also the fact that Academy age is from 14 to 16, or that I will make this into a harem because otherwise, it does not stay true to High School DxD.**

**Ok, on with the story.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any copyrighted material that show up in my story**

* * *

**Chapter 1: A date with death  
**

"So Naruto, what are you doing after class today?"

"I think I'll get some more training."

"Che, troublesome. Can't you spend one day laying down and looking at the clouds?"

"That's too damn boring. How can you have so less energetic?"

"You just have too much energy."

Naruto was currently at the Academy, trying to survive one of Iruka-sensei's boring history lectures. Beside him was sitting Shikamaru, who was one of the few kids who even bothered to talk to him. The rest of them would treat him like trash.

"Naruto, do you know the answer to the question?" Iruka piped suddenly.

"Huh? What question."

"NARUTO!"

"Oops. Hehehe, sorry. I wasn't paying attention."

"You would do better to listen to my lectures Naruto. Anyway, I asked do you know anything about the Shodaime Hokage?"

"He was the first Hokage of Konoha, and also the one who helped establish it. He was known for his use of the Wood element, the only ninja who ever had that ability. He is said to have created the forests that surround Konoha."

Silence enveloped the entire room, as everyone turned to look at him.

"What, I study too you know."

"Yeah right. Idiot."

"Why you bastard…"

"Naruto, don't use slangs in my class!"

"Yes, Iruka sensei."

"Now sit down."

"Fine…"

Uzumaki Naruto was an orphan. He was born on October 10th, the day Kyuubi had attacked the village. No one knew who his parents were, and Sandaime-jiji told him that he was found in the rubble, with no sign of his parents. He lived at the Konoha orphanage till the age of ten, when he moved out and got an apartment of his own from the allowance he got from the Hokage. Now, at the age of 15, he was currently studying at the Konoha ninja academy in order to become a … well, in order to become a ninja.

* * *

"See you tomorrow, Naruto."

"Yeah, see you tomorrow, Shikamaru."

Naruto walked out from the Academy, and headed towards the training ground. As he walked through the streets of Konoha, he could feel several glares on the back of his head. He never understood why the people seemed to hate him. While pondering about what he ever did to get the entire villages hatred, he failed to notice the girl that was following him.

'Was it the Hyuuga underwear incident? Nah, they hated me before that. The Akimichi food prank? Nope. Maybe it was the Inazuka dogs in heat? No…..'

"Um… Naruto-san?"

"Hmm. Oh, yes. How may I help you?"

"Ah, yes. My name is Maki… um… would you…" the girl mumbled.

"I didn't quite get the last part."

"Wouldyougooutwithme?"

"Sorry?"

"Would you go out with me?"

"Huh?" said Naruto, before doing something that was quite out of his character. He fainted.

"Naruto-san!"

You see, Naruto was so used to being hated by everyone, he never expected a girl to ask him out, especially the way the girls in his class treated him.

"Ugh, what happened." said Naruto, as he slowly regained his consciousness.

"Oh, Naruto-san. You're awake." said Maki.

"Oh, you're here. I was wondering, did you just ask me out."

"…Yes."

"But, why? I mean, we don't even know each other."

"I have been watching you for a while now. You are strong, handsome, kind…."

"Wait wait, hold up. Were you stalking me?"

"…Maybe."

"Oh my. This is awkward. But to answer your question, I don't know you enough to start going out with you."

"Oh." said Maki, visibly deflated.

"But, we could go out on a date. Get to know each other more. What do you say?"

"Oh! That would be great!"

"Good. How does tomorrow sound?"

"Tomorrow sounds good."

"Then meet me at the plaza at 5 in the afternoon."

"OK."

* * *

"Hey, Shikamaru?" asked Naruto

"Yeah?" replied Shikamaru.

"I got a date today. Do you have any ideas?"

"How did you even get yourself a date? Never mind, it's too troublesome. You could try and take her to dinner, and then maybe a movie."

"Oh. That's actually pretty good advice. Didn't expect you to have an idea on how to date."

"Che. While going on a date is extremely troublesome, it's even more of a drag when the girl gets pissed off at you for a bad date. And pissed of women are too damn troublesome to deal with. I'd rather know how to date over that."

"Wow, you are quite chatty today. What's up?"

"Nothing much. It's just that I never expected you of all people to land a date before the Uchiha."

"Oh. I did, didn't I." said Naruto, a lopsided grin appearing on his lips.

"Oi, Sasuke, guess who got a date before you."

"Tch, troublesome."

* * *

Naruto walked towards the plaza, while trying to get out any creases in the dress he was wearing. He had dumped the orange monstrosity that he usually wears to the school, and opted for a more subtle approach. He was now wearing a white full sleeved shirt, with blue jeans. On top of the shirt, he had a sleeveless black leather jacket. He was looking, in one word, dashing.

As he reached the plaza, he looked around, searching for Maki. When he finally saw her, he was left speechless. She was wearing a white sleeveless dress, and her black hair was tied up into a bun with a white ribbon. She was looking beautiful

"Maki-san, you are looking gorgeous."

"Thank you, Naruto-san."

"Please, call me Naruto-kun."

"Alright, so where are we going, Naruto-kun?"

"How does dinner sound?"

* * *

Naruto and Maki were currently inside a restaurant, waiting for their food to arrive.

"So, Maki-san, tell me more about yourself."

"Well, as you already know, my name is Maki. I work part time as a sales girl to make money, and that's where I saw you first."

"Is that so? Which shop was it?"

"Oh, you wouldn't know, you never actually entered the shop. I saw you through the window."

"Really?"

"Yes. Now, how about you tell me a bit more about yourself, Naruto-kun."

"Well, my name is Uzumaki Naruto. I am training to be a ninja. I like ramen, and I hate the three minutes it takes to make ramen."

"Is that so?"

They chatted for a little while, and enjoyed the meal when it came. Once they were done with the food, they went over to the movie theatre, where the latest Princess Gale movie was being played.

After the movie was over, Naruto decided to be the gentleman and walk Maki home.

"So, how was your day, Maki-san?"

"Oh it was pretty enjoyable. What about you?"

"It was one of the best days of my life. A pity that it has to end."

"Yes. It's a pity that you have to die."

"Say what."

"I said, you have to die now." and with that Maki appeared right in front of Naruto.

"Guh." blood came out of Naruto's mouth; he looked down to see a sword impaling him.

"It really is a pity. You were actually pretty entertaining." Maki said, twisting the sword, "But orders are orders." and pulled the sword out of Naruto's stomach.

Naruto fell down on his knees. He watched as Maki wiped the blood of her sword, before sheathing it. Then she turned around and walked away. His vision was becoming blurry. He couldn't see anymore. He couldn't hear anything either. Soon, he couldn't even feel the ground beneath him. The darkness enveloped him.

'Is this how I am going to die?'

**"Tch, idiot brat. Getting himself killed. And by a girl no less. I thought he was going to become a ninja. Some ninja he would be if he lets his guard down this easy. Now I have to clean up this mess. But, he is clearly dead, I only have so long before I will be too. Damn that Yondaime for sealing a demon of my caliber… wait, that's it! I can still do that. Brat, you better be grateful, cause I am never going to do this for you again, ever."**

* * *

**So, that's the end of the first chapter of "Blonde Haired Devil". Please review and tell me what you think about it. Constructive Criticism always helps.  
**


	3. Waking up as a devil

**Author's Note: Here is the second chapter of 'Blonde Haired Devil'. *cheers***

**I can't believe I am uploading the second chapter in a day. Though both chapters are small. Meh, details.**

**So, Naruto is alive. Don't worry. I can't write a story about Naruto if he is dead. Unless it's about a Naruto ghost. Anyway, this chapter is about what happened to Naruto after last chapter's incidents, so jump right in.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or High School DxD**

* * *

**Chapter 2: Waking up as a devil  
**

"Hello." talking

'Hello.' thinking

**"Hello."** Kyuubi talking

**'Hello.' **Kyuubi thinking

*Knock* Sound effects

* * *

"Ugh." Naruto woke up with a start. "What happened? Was that a dream?"

**"Not really."** was the reply, seemingly from out of nowhere.

"Who's there? Show yourself."

**"Oh shut up. Don't get your panties in a bunch. And show some respect, brat. You are talking to the world's strongest bijuu."**

"Respect needs to be … WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THE STRONGEST BIJUU?"

**"Ugh, brat. Stop shouting. I can hear you just fine. You don't even have to speak out loud. All you need to do is think."**

"Rea.." 'I mean really?'

**"Yes, because I am inside of you."**

'Inside of…' "WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY INSIDE OF ME!"

**"STOP SHOUTING!"**

'Sorry. Anyway, what do you mean by inside of me?'

**"Oh, because I am sealed within you."**

'Sealed within…' "WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY SEALED WITHIN ME!"

**'I'm going to get a headache before the day is over.'**

* * *

'So you are telling me that you are Kyuubi, and that the Yondaime Hokage did not kill you, but rather sealed you inside of me by sacrificing himself?'

**"Yes."**

'And also your life is tied to mine, so that if I die, you die?'

**"That's right."**

'And, yesterday, Maki-san actually went on a date with me, and then killed me. In order to ensure my survival, and thus yours too by default, you turned me into a devil?'

**"Precisely."**

'Tch, I must really be dreaming. Or maybe it's a hallucination. I should check the milk. Maybe it's past expiration date again…'

**"Oh, snap out of it will you. You are now a devil. Get out of denial and deal with it."**

'What do you mean deal with it! How am I supposed to suddenly deal with so many things? I mean look at what you just told me; I have the Kyuubi sealed inside of me, I actually got asked out on a date, before the same date killed me, and then I got turned into a devil. How does that even work?'

**"You would know if you actually stopped panicking and let me explain."**

'Oh.' Naruto blinked, 'sorry about that. So can you _now_ explain how the hell I became a devil?'

**"Well, you already know that I am a demon, right?"**

'Well, yes. Of course. Everyone does.'

**"So, you see back before I was sealed, I would roam about and destroy things that didn't suit my taste. On one of my travels, I ended up in hell, literally. There I met with the devils. There was this one man, who managed to completely stop my destruction before actually overpowering me. We were both left winded once the battle was over. He then did something… unexpected. He offered to turn me into a devil, so that we could fight side by side. He also even told me the method of becoming a devil, how nice of him."**

'What happened then?'

**"Oh, I killed him. Why on earth would I want to be a devil? I am completely happy as a demon, thank you very much. Anyway, so his method was very simple, something that would work on even a normal human. All it would have needed was for you to die while having some negative or dark energy in you. Now while you only have the yang part of my chakra, everyone knows that all good things tend to have a little bit of darkness in it. That's the whole concept of yin and yang if you ask me. So all I did was force a little bit of chakra out of the seal, it wasn't very hard with you dying and all that and voila, you became a devil."**

'That's it? So, what does it mean, being a devil and all that.'

**"Well, for one thing you will hate daylight."**

'I already hated daylight, what's new about it?'

**"Well, you are going to really hate it. Sunlight is damaging to devils. While it wouldn't hurt you too much considering you have me inside you, it will be draining on your ever so large reserves."**

'Oh.'

**"You will be stronger during the night though. You know, more energetic, faster, and seeing in the dark kind of stronger."**

'Right.'

**"The last ability that you should know is that you will live longer than a regular human being. This was what that sort of sealed the deal. I mean, I would take being stuck inside you over being stuck in the 'Infinite Darkness' place where all bijuu go to when their jinchuriki dies, even if I had to stay there for only 5 years."**

'Live longer… How much longer are we talking about here?'

**"At least a thousand year."**

'A thousa…' "A THOUSAND YEAR!"

**"Sheesh, brat. Quiet down, will you. I think you just shouted louder than that pink haired girl."**

* * *

Somewhere in Konoha, Sakura sneezed.

* * *

'Oops, sorry. It's kind of hard to not shout when you give me such extraordinary news.'

**"Yeah, well what would you do when you learned the rest of it, I wonder."**

'What do you mean, rest of it?'

**"Well, that even I don't know. I killed the guy before he could tell me."**

'Oh, right. How are we even talking right now?'

**"That is a byproduct of your reincarnation. Normally, you would have to get into your mindscape before you could talk to me. But because you reincarnated with my chakra in your chakra stream, our connection was made stronger. Though as a side effect, you can't get into your mindscape for the next 3 years, it sort of needs to repair itself from the damage it got when you were killed."**

'Are you telling me my mind got damaged?'

**"Nope. It's just psychological trauma. Though I sometimes do wonder if it was originally damaged."**

'Hey, that was uncalled for.'

**"Anyway, shouldn't you get some breakfast already? It's past 12 in the noon you know."**

"WHAT? Damn I missed class completely. And I am hungry. WHERE ARE ALL MY RAMEN? Oh found one…."

*Knock, knock*

"Coming." said Naruto, before opening the door, to find an extremely handsome young man stand in front of him.

"Hello, Uzumaki Naruto. My name is Azuka Beelzebub. We need to talk."

* * *

**Alright done. Damn, it's hard writing big chapters. Which is why my chapters will remain small. So you could expect fast updates of short chapters as long as life allows me, and I don't get a writer's block. But don't expect as fast as this one, cause this only happened because I had a holiday from school and work for no apparent reason. …No, I did not ditch them. I don't ditch, at least not often. Last time I ditched was maybe in… May.**

**…**

**Awkward. I hope you liked the story. Please, do review. It gives us budding writers inspiration to write some more chapters. So, yeah. Reviews will be appreciated.**


	4. Graduation

**Author's Note: I got my first reviews, yay!**

**…**

**Ehm, sorry. Couldn't stop myself. It seems I need to clear up a few things. First of all, Naruto in this story is 15 years old and still in the Academy. I always thought 12 was not the right age for a ninja. Especially if I am about to give the said ninja a harem. And I am not going to give a list of people in the harem because it actually plays an important role in the story. I also have one person wondering how Naruto managed to get a restaurant to serve him. Well, that will be explained in a bit in the story.**

**So here we go.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or High School DxD**

* * *

**Chapter 3: Graduation  
**

"Hello." talking

'Hello.' thinking

**"Hello."** Kyuubi talking

**'Hello.' **Kyuubi thinking

*Knock* Sound effects

**"Bunshin no Jutsu" **Jutsu

* * *

**1 year later, the Academy**

It was the day of the graduation. All students were currently sitting at their bench, chatting away while waiting for the exam to begin. In front of them, one Umino Iruka was sitting at the teacher's table. Behind him, his assistant Mizuki was standing.

'This year's batch is a mixed one.' thought Iruka. 'We have pretty good potentials in the Uchiha and Hyuuga. There is also the Aburame, who is following behind. The Yamanaka, Akimichi and Nara are pretty much what I thought they would be; no surprises there. Then there is the Inazuka and Haruno, who excels in either strength or intelligence, and completely lacking in the other department. Then there is Naruto. He has been a mystery. He has been failing all the subjects. But there are times, when it seems that he knows a lot more than he lets on. It seems as if his control slips, and his real talent surfaces.'

"Alright students, it's time to start the exam." Iruka announced. "Collect your exam papers from the desk before going back to your seat."

There was a bit of jostling as the students took their exam papers before getting to there seats.

"Alright, you have two hours to answer all the questions. Begin."

'Tch. A written exam. Since this is graduation exam, I actually have to pass it. I suppose I should answer enough for passing. That should be enough. I wouldn't usually even write, but whatever helps stop mom being troublesome I guess.' was the thoughts of one lazy Nara.

'Hell yeah. I am going to ace this test. Then I am going to become a ninja and leave Ino-pig behind. Then I will be in the same team as Sasuke-kun, and then Sasuke-kun will marry me and we will do….' one pink haired girl was having a hard time concentrating on the test itself.

'Why does a ninja have to give a written test anyway?' our blonde haired hero thought.

**"In order to check your mental capabilities. Now get on with the test before you lose any more time." **sighed Kyuubi.

'Alright, alright fine. I am doing it. Hmm, first question is… What the hell! What's this supposed to even mean? There's no way an academy student could… wait a minute. What do we have here? Interesting. Very Interesting. Fine, I'll play along for now. Let's see what you are planning.'

**"Don't do something you are going to regret, brat."**

'Don't worry. I won't.'

* * *

**2 hours later**

"Alright. Your time is over. Hand over your exam papers. You will now have your weapons and taijutsu test. Please come outside when I call your name." All the students moved to the front desk, handing over their papers, before moving back to their seats.

"I am going to be marking these papers in my office." said Mizuki. "You can handle the next exam alone, right Iruka?"

"Sure. Go ahead."

'So, I have to wait. Why can't these people hurry it up and get it over with. I can't become stronger by wasting time inside an exam room. I have things to do, people to kill, revive a clan. Why can't they ever understand?' was what Sasuke was contemplating.

"Uchiha Sasuke."

"Hn." 'About time. I almost fell asleep back there.'

And soon everyone else was done, and it was now time for the ninjutsu test.

"Alright, this test will be similar to the last one. Your name will be called, and you will go over to the room next door. There we are going to test your ninjutsu, and once you are done, whether you pass or fail, you will leave the building immediately. I don't want anyone to loiter around. Is that clear?"

"Yes, sensei."

"Ok, the first one will be…"

'So, we are almost done with the exams. Do you think there are any suitable candidates for you-know-what, eh Kyuubi?'

**'While there are plenty of potential ninja, I don't think they are fit for you-know-what."**

"Aburame Shino."

'How about him?'

**"Nah, he depends on bugs. While he might be strong, his bugs can't be changed with him."**

'Oh. Then how about…. him?"

"Akimichi Chouji."

**"Nah, we don't need an Akimichi, or their techniques."**

'I guess no one fits the bill, huh?'

**"Well, there is one. But you already rejected him."**

'You know very well I don't need the same thing anymore.'

**"And I tell you he wouldn't be the same. They have different skill sets you know."**

'Ugh, whatever. Why are you even supporting him? I thought you hated his family with every fiber of your being.'

**"You don't need to know."**

'Fine, don't tell me.'

"Uchiha Misaki."

"Oh, it's your turn Misaki-chan. _Show_ them what you got, will you?"

"Oh, sure Naruto-kun. You don't have to tell me."

'Now that is someone that I can proudly call my friend.'

**"I guess so. Remember how we met her?"**

'Yeah, she was very strong, even back then. I still shiver while thinking about the damage she did to the guy. I don't think he could become a father anymore.'

**"Ay. It was quite lucky for him then, that he died that very same night."**

"Uchiha Sasuke."

'Yup, it was quite the coincidence that Uchiha Itachi would pick that very same night to massacre his entire clan.'

**"Lucky that the girl is still alive."**

'Yeah, but Sasuke not so much. The mind fuck that Itachi did to him was extremely effective. All he thinks about now is killing Itachi.'

**"Well, I think I like him better being an avenger. Think about what would happen if he were to focus on reviving his clan instead."**

'That would be… disgusting. Ugh, I don't need those mental images right now.'

"Uzumaki Naruto."

'Oh, my turn. Wish me luck.'

Naruto got up from his seat, before walking to the neighboring room. There, Mizuki and Iruka were both sitting behind a desk. You could see that it was an empty class room, with all the empty chairs and desks moved to the sides, providing plenty of empty space in the middle.

"Alright Naruto. I want you to do the techniques as I call them out. Do you understand?" said Iruka looking into his eyes.

"Of course, Iruka sensei. Bring it on. I'll do all the jutsu perfectly dattebayo!" was Naruto's reply.

**"Do you have to say that stupid phrase all the time."** the Kyuubi grumbled.

"Good. Then first I want you to replace with the log over there."

Naruto went through the proper hand signs, before locking on to the log and yelling **"Kawarimi no Jutsu"**. There was a poof of smoke, followed by a log right where Naruto was standing. "How was that?" asked Naruto from a corner of the room, where the log used to be.

"It was properly done. Now I want you to transform yourself into someone else."

** "He did not just say that. Ugh, he is the worst idiot I have seen in my entire life."** said the Kyuubi, a bit of surprise and irritation mixed in his tone.

"You asked for it." Naruto did the hand sign before yelling **"Oiroke no jutsu". **There was a puff of smoke, which cleared to show a completely naked female Naruto standing in front of them, with a bit of smoke covering the important parts. "Let's have some fun." Naruto said, before winking.

"NARUTO!" Iruka yelled, trying to look menacing, but failing completely as he had blood running down his nose. "Didn't I ban you from using that jutsu?"

"Aw, but you said I could be anyone, Iruka-sensei." female Naruto said with a pout. "Meanie."

That was it for Iruka, as he ended up losing consciousness.

A puff of smoke followed, before the real Naruto appeared in front of them laughing his heart out.

"HAHAHAHAHA. Oh man, I didn't expect it to work so well." Naruto chuckled.

"You shouldn't be doing that Naruto-san." scolded Mizuki. "Now we have to wait for him to wake up."

* * *

Once Iruka finally woke up.

"Naruto, do not use that jutsu in front of me, ever again. Do you understand me?"

"Yes, I do."

"Good, now show me your clones."

Naruto once again went through the set of hand signs. "Let's go. **Bunshin no jutsu.**" He shouted.

There was the tell tale puff of smoke, but when they cleared it showed two zombie Naruto's, which couldn't even stand up properly.

"Huh? What happened?" Naruto did the jutsu again, only to find a very similar, if not worse result.

"It seems Naruto, that you can't do the clone technique yet. I am sorry. But I can't pass you."

"WHAT?" the loud shout could be heard from outside the village.

"I am sorry. But you failed the written examination as well as the practical one. If you even passed one, I could maybe ignore the other. But with both failed… I really am sorry."

**"Brat, what do you think you are doing. I know full well that you can do the clone technique perfectly."**

'Shut up fox, don't distract me.' Naruto thought, before letting his face fall into a look of depression. He then walked out into the street, before heading towards the Hokage monument. He then walked right into the market street before going into a weapon store.

"How can I … help you?" The shopkeeper said, through gritted teeth.

"I want 50 exploding tags and 100 kunai."

"That will be 1500 ryo."

"Here's the money."

Naruto got out of the store, completely equipped for battle. He was laughing like mad in his mind, even though he had a sad look on his face. You see, when Naruto was 14, Sandaime found about the way Naruto was treated by the people of Konoha. He made a new law which allowed for people to file a lawsuit against shops which were unwilling to sell to someone as a method of discrimination. This was followed by Naruto filing a lawsuit against Konoha's most anti-Naruto shop owner, with Sarutobi's help of course, and winning the case. He got a hefty sum of money as fines, and no other shop ever dared to turn him away.

He soon reached the Hokage monument. He climbed to the top, before sitting down under a tree, and gazed at the view of Konoha.

"So there you are." Naruto turned around to find Mizuki staring at him with a gentle smile on his face. "I have been looking all over Konoha for you."

"Why?" asked Naruto curtly.

"I am here to apologize on behalf of Iruka. He was a bit harsh back there. He could have passed you, you know. But I guess he is a stickler for discipline." Mizuki explained.

"So? That's not going to get me passed you know." grumbled Naruto.

"That's the second reason I am here. You see, there is a second way someone can become a genin."

"Really?" inquired Naruto, excitement showing on his face.

"Yes. All you need to do is get the Forbidden Scroll which is hidden in the Hokage's office, and learn a jutsu from it. Once you learn it, go to the forest. Someone will be there to test you."

"Alright. Thank you, Mizuki-sensei."

'So that's what you were planning, bastard. Well, lucky me. Now I can steal the Forbidden Scroll and actually have a good enough reason for it.'

* * *

"Hokage sama!" a ninja burst through the doors of the office of Sarutobi Hiruzen, Sandaime Hokage.

"What's going on?" questioned Sarutobi.

"It's Uzumaki Naruto. He has stolen the Forbidden Scroll."

'What is that idiot thinking' the wizened Hokage thought, before saying out loud, "Gather all the ninja available. Tell them they are to find Naruto and capture him. Remember, _capture him_. If he somehow ends up dead, I will find and kill the person who decided to not follow an order from the Hokage."

"Yes, Hokage sama."

* * *

**Meanwhile, with Naruto**

'This thing is really heavy. I guess they never thought it needs to be carried. Let's see… this place will do. Time to learn a new jutsu and become a genin. Hm… oh, this is a good one… that one's good too… maybe I'll start with that…'

* * *

**With Iruka**

'Naruto, what have you done? Was not passing so much of a shock to you that you decided to steal the Forbidden Scroll?'

Iruka moved through the trees quickly, hoping to find Naruto before anyone else did. If someone else found Naruto, they would kill him, orders be damned.

Suddenly, he felt a quick, sharp and strong blast of chakra originating from a kilometer to his north. Realizing the only one who could even manage such high density chakra was Naruto; he quickly changed directions, and sped towards the origin of the chakra blast.

As he approached the clearing, he saw Naruto lying on the ground, panting. The Forbidden Scroll was beside him, and it was open.

"Naruto! What do you think you are doing?" asked Iruka.

"Oh, Iruka-sensei. Are you here to test me for the technique I learned from the Forbidden Scroll, so that I can become a genin?" was Naruto's response.

"A test… Naruto, who told you that?"

"Why, Mizuki-sensei, of course."

"There is no test, Naruto."

"What? So Mizuki sensei lied?

"I am afraid I did." a reply came from one of the trees. As Naruto turned towards the voice, he so Mizuki standing there, but he soon noticed something else which was of immediate danger; a Fuma Shuriken coming right at him. He was about to move away, but Iruka reacted faster. He took the Shuriken on his back, all the while protecting Naruto.

"Mizuki! What do you think you are doing?" yelled Iruka.

"Oh, I am just ridding this world of a demon." replied Mizuki. "Did you know brat? Why the people of the village hate you? Why they call you the demon?"

"Mizuki! Please don't…" pleaded Iruka.

"Oh shut up, Iruka." Mizuki spat, before continuing, "They call you the demon because you are a demon. It's because the nine tails demon fox is sealed inside of you."

"No!" Naruto said, with a look of pure horror, "It can't be. There is no way… Is that what you were expecting from me?" deadpanned Naruto.

"Huh?" Mizuki looked utterly confused.

"Oh come on. I am already 16 years old. Jiji told me about the Kyuubi when I was 15 years old. I already knew about it. You are not very bright for a Chuunin, are you?" contemplated Naruto.

"Why you, I'll kill you for mocking me." Mizuki roared, before throwing several shurikens at Naruto.

The shurikens zoomed in on Naruto, who showed no sign of moving. The shurikens seemed to hit him, before he fazed out of existence.

'_Bunshin no jutsu_? But I thought Naruto couldn't do that?' Iruka thought.

Naruto appeared right behind Iruka, and hollered, "Oi, Mizuki. Did you think that you managed to make me fail the test? Did you? Cause you were wrong. You didn't fail me. I failed because I chose to. You also thought that I stole the Scroll for you. But you see, I didn't steal it. Hokage jiji gave me the Scroll to lure you out. This was a mission. Your treachery ends here. **KATSU!**"Naruto yelled, causing the exploding tags he had planted throughout the area glow before…

*BOOM*

exploding. Naruto covered Iruka, taking the brunt of the explosion. Once the smoke cleared, one could see the remains of Mizuki. A part of it here, a part of it there, and a part of it way over there staining a tree branch.

"Oops. I guess I killed him. Those were some nasty exploding tags. Gotta be careful when using them."

"Naruto."

"Oh, Iruka-sensei. Are you alright."

"YOU IDIOT. If you could pass the exam anyway, then pass it properly. And you didn't have to take him on. You should have just told me about Mizuki's betrayal."

"Ehehehe." Naruto chuckled nervously. "It sort of never crossed my mind."

"Ugh. Close your eyes."

"Eeehh!"

"Just close them."

"Fine, fine. Here, they are closed now. Happy."

"Wait a minute… There. Now open your eyes."

Naruto slowly opened his eyes. He didn't notice the difference at first. then he saw that Iruka's hitai-te was missing. He slowly raised his hand, and traced the hitai-te that now was tied to his forehead.

"You can do the _Bunshin no Jutsu_ just fine, so I have to pass you. Congratulations Naruto. You are now a genin."

Naruto's eyes filled up with tears, before he hugged Iruka. "Thank you, Iruka sensei."

* * *

**Alright, that's a wrap.**

**So, first time I have a chapter near 3000 words. Not much when compared to all the other stories, but it's a personal milestone for me. I'll let you know again that it's already Friday here (albeit it's 2.30 in the morning), so the update was bound to happen. As I go further into the story, I will try to get the chapters bigger. Which would mean that updates will be more widely spaced. I could always do shorter quicker updates, but that will ruin the flow of the story.**

**So I am gonna sign out. If you liked the story, please review and tell me why. If you didn't like the story… well, I plead you to still review about why you don't like it. You are also free to ask any questions pertaining to the story. I will answer them as I see fit.**

**See ya soon.**

**Edit:16/06/13**

**Alright this is a revision. I sort of messed up and made the same scene show up in two chapters in very different ways... So I am removing the one which I was unhappy with which led me to write the scene again in the first place. I just forgot to have this chapter edited before, thanks to Rezuvius for pointing it out... in a not so nice way. Anyway, adios amigos, I'll be back with the next chapter as soon as I can get to writing it down.**


	5. Team Selection

**Author's Note**

**Alright, I think I will stick to a chapter per week schedule. Any quicker would be very hard for me to do. This chapter took this long to finish writing because I was not happy with what I wrote and had to rewrite the whole thing. And I don't think I could write any faster cause I will be having a few busy weeks.**

**So, let's get on with the chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I am just a humble fan and do not own Naruto or High School DxD. **

* * *

**Chapter 4: Team Selection  
**

"Hello." talking

'Hello.' thinking

**"Hello."** Kyuubi talking

**'Hello.' **Kyuubi thinking

*Knock* Sound effects

**"Bunshin no Jutsu" **Jutsu

* * *

Naruto was currently sitting at the waiting area of the Hokage office. He had been called to meet the old Hokage immediately after the stunt he just pulled regarding Mizuki. Now he was waiting for Sarutobi to finish with a meeting.

'Damn… I suppose I shouldn't have said it out loud.' pondered Naruto.

**"You think?" **grumbled the Kyuubi. **"What's with you and messing up an extremely good situation?"**

'I don't know. Maybe it's just my luck. I mean I did get stuck with you.' countered Naruto.

**"Cheeky brat." **responded Kyuubi.

"The Hokage will now see you." the assistant called at Naruto.

Naruto went inside the office, to find Sarutobi Hiruzen smoking on his pipe. He quietly motioned at an empty chair, and Naruto walked up to it before sitting down. Sarutobi inhaled a large amount of smoke, before slowly exhaling.

"Naruto," he began, "I must commend you for helping us capture Mizuki. But I must say that blurting out that it were orders from me right in the middle of a fight was not a good thing to do. When you are a shinobi, there will be times when secrecy becomes extremely important. We can't have shinobi who reveal secrets like that."

"I will keep that in mind, jiji." promised Naruto. "I won't disappoint you."

"Good. Now I believe you have managed to pass the genin exam." Sarutobi said, a small smile finding its way to his lips.

"Of course. Nothing can stop me from becoming the next Hokage dattebayo." replied Naruto excitedly.

"That's good and all, but I hear that you managed to get yourself the title of 'dead last'." Sarutobi mused. "Sasuke got the 'shinobi of the year' title."

"Really? What about the 'kunoichi of the year'?" asked Naruto.

"That was gotten by another Uchiha, Uchiha Misaki." answered Sarutobi.

"So Misaki-chan really did it huh. Good for her." said Naruto smiling.

"You are quite fond of her, aren't you?" asked Sarutobi.

"Yeah. She is the first friend I had." responded Naruto. Sarutobi looked at Naruto fondly, before speaking again.

"I must ask you to do something." Sarutobi was serious. "I want you to not hold back when you get yourself a team. If your team does not know what you are capable of, it could get both you and your team to be killed. The same goes for your little friend."

"What do you mean, not holding back?" Naruto asked suspiciously.

"Don't try to hide anything Naruto. I know that you and your friend are far stronger than you showed during the exam, and I want you to show that strength. At least to your team."

"Fine, old man." Naruto said begrudgingly, "If that's what you want, you'll get it, but don't blame me when the jounin is shocked." With that Naruto got up from the chair and left the room.

'I really hope Kakashi can handle him, or else we might have a problem.' thought Sarutobi.

* * *

**Next Day**

Naruto was walking towards the Konoha Academy for his team selection. He had a very difficult time trying to get some sleep, so right now he was pretty groggy. Add to the fact that he had somehow ran out of ramen (which is impossible to begin with), so he was right now on an empty stomach. He soon reached the Academy, only to be deafened by a loud squeal.

"Ugh… don't those fangirls need some sleep or anything." grumbled Naruto.

Yep. It was the Sasuke fangirls, who seem to be having a fight on who gets to sit by the said Uchiha. Sasuke, on the other hand, was currently sitting at a window seat near the back of the class. He seemed to be completely oblivious to the squealing, but a closer look revealed that he was grimacing. Naruto noticed, however, that he wasn't exactly alone. Misaki was seated beside him, a fact that the fangirls never even notice in their battle for that seat. He approached Misaki, who seemed to be bursting from annoyance.

"Hey, Misaki-chan. What's got you so worked up early this morning?" asked Naruto.

"Oh, nothing much. Just a group of fangirls whom a certain cousin of mine can't seem to handle." muttered Misaki through her teeth.

"Hn." grunted Sasuke.

"Is that supposed to be a yes or a no?" wondered Naruto.

"Shut up, dobe." said Sasuke.

"I'll take that as a no." decided Naruto.

"Oh shut up you two. The fangirls were bad enough, if you two start bickering now; I am going to kill both of you." threatened Misaki.

"Yes/Hn." was the reply of Naruto and Sasuke.

Iruka picked that moment to enter the classroom. He got all the fangirls to take their seats, who finally noticed Misaki and Naruto sitting near Sasuke, and began shooting death glares at them. If only looks could kill…

"I must say that I am extremely proud of all of you that passed the genin exam…" Iruka began giving one of his famous lectures that could knock out even a serious student. Most of the people blocked out his speech, only paying half a mind to it so that they don't miss anything important. Naruto was one of those people.

"Psht, Misaki-chan." whispered Naruto. "Do you know how they select the teams?"

"Not really," Misaki whispered back. "I only know that there is some sort of pattern."

"Oh." said Naruto, clearly disappointed. He then remembered the conversation he had with the Hokage the night before. "By the way, Jiji says that we should stop holding back."

This seemed to get even Sasuke's attention, as he leaned forward to try and listen in.

"What? But how did he find out?" asked Misaki, completely shell shocked.

"Well… he is the Hokage. He has means and motive to find out." explained Naruto.

"What do you mean holding back?" Sasuke asked suddenly.

"Just that we haven't been using our full power yet." replied Misaki nonchalantly.

"…." Sasuke was rendered speechless.

"…I am going to call the teams and their jounin sensei now." Iruka said, and suddenly everyone's attention switched to him.

"Oh, he will begin now." Naruto said, literally jumping in excitement.

Ok, Team 1 …, Team 7 will be Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Misaki and Uchiha Sasuke. Your sensei will be Hatake Kakashi."

This caused the entire room to become completely silent, before several outbursts followed, mostly from Sasuke's loyal fan base.

"Why the hell am I in _his_ team?" shouted Sasuke uncharacteristically.

"Yeah, why does Naruto get to be on his team? He is the 'dead last'." shouted a fan girl.

"I deserve to be on Sasuke-kun's team." shouted fan girl #2.

"Yeah... and why is _she_ in his team?"

"SILENCE!" bellowed Iruka, and the entire class room fell silent.

"Naruto is in Sasuke's team _because_ he is the 'dead last' and Sasuke is the 'rookie of the year'. And Misaki is in the team because she is the 'kunoichi of the year'. Now shut up and sit down before I decide to hold all of you back." This got everyone to fall back to their seats, grumbling under their breath.

Naruto, on the other hand, had a similar yet completely different kind of thought. 'What hell was the old man thinking? After what he said to me, I hope he is going to send a good enough Jounin.'

"Alright, now that the teams are done, we are going to have a lunch break. Get back here at 12 noon sharp. Your sensei will pick you up from here." announced Iruka, before leaving the room. He was soon followed by the rest of the teams, leaving only Team 7 inside the classroom. No one said anything, until a loud rumbling disrupted the silence.

"Ehehehe..." Naruto chuckled nervously. "So ... who's up for some ramen?" He asked.

* * *

**A little later, Ichiraku's**

Team 7 walked into Naruto's favourite ramen stand. It was pretty empty, considering it wasn't exactly the 'business hours of ramen'. The owner of the shop, and old man named Teuchi, was standing behind the counter. Teuchi looked up, hearing the footsteps, and visibly livened.

"Oh... here comes my best customer." said Teuchi, "And you have brought your friends with you, I see."

"That's right." piped Naruto, "You already know Misaki-chan, and the grumpy kid is her cousin, Sasuke." Misaki waved at Teuchi, while Sasuke just grunted. They all grabbed a seat for themselves, before ordering.

"So, what do you want to talk about?" asked Sasuke, while waiting for their orders to arrive.

"What do you mean?" asked Naruto, a look of complete ignorance on his face. Beside him, Misaki had the exact same look on her face.

"Do you take me for an idiot?" asked Sasuke, his voice leaking some of his irritation. "I know for a fact that I refused to come here. If you guys hadn't dragged me, I wouldn't even be here. So, tell me, what do you want?"

"Can't get by you, huh Sasuke?" Naruto chuckled sheepishly. "Fine, I'll get right down to business. Since we are already in the same team, we will have to tolerate each other for a really long time. It will also seem to be a hindrance towards each of our respective goals. You, for instance, are already thinking that we will hinder you from killing Itachi."

Sasuke was now suspicious. How did the dead last manage to read his thoughts that well? What was he trying to achieve?

"Anyway..." Naruto continued, "What I'm trying to say is that we are _not_ going to be a hindrance to you. Misaki-chan here is actually on the same boat here you know. And I believe that Itachi had it coming. So, neither of us is going to stop you. Hell, I might even want to help you if I have nothing else to do..."

Sasuke was now beyond apprehension. The idiot _was_ trying to achieve something. He just didn't know what. "There is a 'but' somewhere around there, right?" asked Sasuke.

"Not really, no. Just a request." said Naruto. "We hope that just like we would help you in your goal... you will help us with ours."

"And what is your goal?" Sasuke asked, not really liking it one bit.

"Mine is to be the Hokage." piped Naruto. Misaki face palmed, shaking her head at Naruto's relapse into idiocy. "I haven't exactly decided on a goal yet." said Misaki.

Sasuke considered the options he had in front of him. He didn't want the help of these two on his quest for revenge. And yet, he wasn't quite sure whether he could do it without them. For one thing, Misaki was his cousin, thus also an Uchiha. She had every right to want to have revenge, though she didn't have to go through the same torture he did. She was also strong, he knew that. She could give him a run for his money when she stopped playing around. And Naruto was a wildcard. He had the worst scores in class, sure. But he also happened to have those instances when he surprised everyone. _And_ he could outrun even ANBU when he was running away from them in a prank. He could become pretty useful. So, weighing his options, he realized he'd have a much better chance with the two of them helping him.

"Fine." Sasuke replied curtly.

"Order up." Teuchi said, placing their respective bowls of ramen in front of them.

* * *

**Later, at the Academy**

It had been over three hours since Team 7 had come back from their lunch. They saw all the rest of the teams leave with their respective sensei, but their own sensei had not shown up. Naruto was already pacing about the room, fuming about a ridiculously late sensei and that their sensei was going to regret it. Sasuke was sitting down on one of the chairs, with his hands brought together in front of him. He seemed unperturbed, but if you happen to know him well enough, which Misaki did, he was pretty annoyed too.

Misaki was following Naruto with her eyes, but her mind was elsewhere. She was reminiscing. Naruto was one of the few people who didn't cast her out after the Uchiha Massacre. He was her first friend, and the reason she didn't spiral into depression like her cousin Sasuke. Now, Misaki could say that Naruto was her best friend.

She could remember clearly how they met...

_Flashback_

_Misaki was walking home after a long day at the Academy. She had a gruelling day, and was hoping to take a long shower before going straight to bed. What she didn't notice while daydreaming were the people that were following her. As she got closer to the Uchiha compound, the streets began to get empty. No one usually came near the Uchiha compound; it wasn't a 'normal' thing to do._

_She was brought out of her daydream however, to find herself surrounded by three seniors from the Academy._

_"Look what we have here boys." said the shortest of the kids, "A beautiful lady going home alone."_

_"Yeah, boss. I can't believe she decided to walk home alone, with all the stuff that's going on." said one of his lackeys, a big grin splattered over his face._

_"Maybe she wants to get abducted by the rumoured kidnappers who only take good looking girls." offered the other lackey._

_"Or maybe she is just strong enough to protect herself." said an annoyed Misaki._

_"Well let's find out." said the leader, "Get her." he commanded._

_The trio circled Misaki, and began to slowly box her in. Before they could do anything however, there was an orange blur, before one of the three flew out of the formation and hit a wall._

_"What the hell..." began the other kid, but he never finished, since he found Misaki's fist planted into his face. Misaki then moved quickly, kneeing the leader in the family jewels, causing him to fall to the ground in a crumpled heap._

_When she turned around, she saw a blonde haired kid staring at her appreciatively with his blue eyes._

_"Like I said, I am strong enough to protect myself."_

_Flashback end_

A smile crept onto Misaki's face as she reminisced about her first meeting with Naruto. It was then that she heard footsteps coming towards their classroom, and realized that their sensei might have showed up after all. Then she noticed Naruto sitting down at a desk with a really creepy grin across his face, and decided that she was going to pity her sensei, whoever he or she was.

Oh how wrong she was going to be...

* * *

Hatake Kakashi walked down the corridor in order to reach the room where his team was now waiting for him for the past three hours, trying to decide which excuse he was going to use for his lateness. He soon reached the classroom, and was about to go in, when he had a chill run up his spine. He looked around, and when he saw nothing opened the door and stepped inside. He immediately sensed an object falling on him from above. However, having seen that his team was the only people present, he decided that it must be a prank and no need to give it much heed. That is, until it actually landed on him...

*Splat*

Kakashi found himself covered in multi-coloured paint. He stood frozen at his spot, trying to wrap his mind around the fact that someone just painted him in all the colours from the rainbow. He was brought out of his stupor by the roaring laughter of a blonde haired kid, whom he soon recognized as the village's most notorious prankster, Uzumaki Naruto.

Hindsight is always a bitch.

He looked around, and saw that a black haired girl was giggling quietly. He recalled her to be Uchiha Misaki, the girl in his team. He soon found the other Uchiha in his team. Sasuke was trying to hide a smirk that seemed to disrupt his emotionless demeanour.

"Hmm... my first thoughts about you guys," Kakashi said, keeping to his lazy, disinterested persona, "I hate you. Meet me at the rooftop." with that he shunshined out of the room, leaving a dazed group of students behind.

* * *

Kakashi was currently at the rooftop of the Academy with his team. He had managed to get rid of the paint, and grabbed a change of clothes in the time it took the brats to climb to the roof. He was observing the trio he was supposed to be training. Naruto was a bundle of energy, who wouldn't stop bouncing in his place if his life dependent on it. But there was something wrong with this. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but somehow it seemed natural. Too natural. The brat might be hiding something. He would have to keep an eye on him.

Sasuke, on the other hand, was completely opposite of Naruto. He was completely stoic, ignoring most of what was happening around him. That didn't mean he wasn't aware of his surroundings. Oh he was aware alright, he just was better at hiding it. He also seemed relaxed, even lethargic, but a closer look could tell all the muscles were tensed in anticipation of the unexpected.

Misaki seemed to be just the right balance between the two of them. She seemed bubbly enough to at least keep up with Naruto, and she was tensed at the same time, waiting for something to happen exactly like Sasuke. Kakashi was in a dilemma. His team seemed to be one of those gambles, one where if it came off right it would be the best result ever. If it was lost, however, it would be disastrous.

"Alright, how about we get introduced?" Kakashi said cheerfully. "Tell me your likes, dislikes, hobbies and dreams."

"How is that supposed to work?" asked a puzzled Naruto.

"Fine, I'll go first to show you how it's done." said Kakashi, a bit irritated that the boy couldn't even do that. "My name is Hatake Kakashi. I like... and I dislike... I have lots of hobbies. My dreams... is none of your business." 'There, that shouldn't give them any information about me at all.' Kakashi saw a glint in Naruto's eyes before he took up an expression of annoyance.

"Alright, blondie, you go first." said Kakashi, pointing at Naruto.

"Alright! My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I like ramen. I dislike the three minutes that takes to cook ramen. My hobby is gardening. My dream is to become greater than the previous Hokage's." exclaimed Naruto, moving animatedly with each sentence.

'Hmm. He seemed to block out any personal information quite effectively, even though it seemed that he said a lot. He might have some talent after all. Though if you read between the lines, you can see the surface of what makes up Uzumaki Naruto. His gardening hobby tells me that he likes to have control over his life. His proclamation about being Hokage however, shows that he hasn't managed to get that control, and is still striving for it.'

"Your turn." Kakashi pointed at Sasuke.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I don't like much, and I dislike a lot of things. I don't have a hobby. My dream, no my ambition is to kill a certain man and to revive my clan."

'Ok... the Uchiha is and avenger. That can't end well. He is also pretty antisocial from what I see. He has also managed to block out any personal information that I could use, and he even lets me know that he is doing it. I suppose he needs to work on his personality and subtlety.'

"Wrap it up girl." said Kakashi, looking at Misaki.

"My name is Misaki Uchiha. I like my family and friends. I dislike people who threaten my family and friends. My hobby is training, and my dream is to help Naruto and Sasuke achieve their goals."

'That was... unexpected. She might be what keeps this team together. With her dream, as well as her bonds with them, she can motivate and influence them. However, she was the one who let the most out. She wants to protect her precious people, and that is obvious considering what happened to the Uchiha. Except for that though, there was nothing else, except that she has the drive to do what she sets out to do.'

"Now that we are all acquainted and all that, let's get down to business." said Kakashi in an aloof tone. "Tomorrow you are going to have a survival test at Training ground 3. Be there by 0600 hours; don't be late." He got up to leave. "Oh, and a suggestion. Don't eat breakfast. You will throw up." and with that Hatake Kakashi left the rooftop in a swirl of leaves.

* * *

**Ok, done.**

**Wow, another over 3000 chapter. It took a really long while to write, so maybe it's actually quite small? Whatever, I did what I could in the midst of my busy life.**

**So we have Naruto, Sasuke and Misaki in the same team with Kakashi their sensei. The rest of the teams are actually undecided, and I'll leave it like that for now. And about people asking about Rias or Akeno, or even the fact that people read DxD for ecchi; I don't care. Simple as that. I won't put Rias or Akeno in the harem, but they might have some role in the story. Keyword 'might'. Truth is even I can't tell where this story is gonna go. So deal with it by reading, just as I am dealing with it by writing. I mainly borrowed some things from the story; it is not the main base. Main base is Naruto, so it will have more universe ideas from there.**

**Anyway, before I go off on a tangent again, sorry for being late with the chapter. I hope I'll finish the next chapter sooner.**

* * *

**Next Time on Blonde Haired Devil:**

**Team 7 takes on Kakashi in their survival test. Will they be able to pass it? Or will they fail it? And who is this Azuka person anyway? Find out on the next instalment of Blonde Haired Devil.**


	6. The Survival Test

**Author's Note**

**Not much to say, so we move right into the story and see how the survival test goes.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or High School DxD**

* * *

**Chapter 5: The Survival Test**

"Hello." talking

'Hello.' thinking

**"Hello."** Kyuubi talking

**'Hello.' **Kyuubi thinking

*Knock* Sound effects

**"Bunshin no Jutsu" **Jutsu

* * *

**Next Day**

Naruto was currently running towards Training ground 3. He was already late for his survival test, and he didn't know what Kakashi would do with late people. He almost ran into several people, before taking to the roofs of Konoha. He soon came down though, but not on his own volition. He slipped and landed right onto the streets. Getting up quickly, he made a run for it again.

When he reached the training ground however, he only found his two teammates waiting. There was no sign of their sensei. It seemed that he really had a habit of being late. Naruto took a seat beside Misaki, and they quickly got into a heated discussion on which ramen flavor was the best. Sasuke on the other hand was sitting aside, brooding about Itachi.

* * *

When Kakashi got to the training ground four hours later, he found his team half asleep. He didn't mind, though. They were going to be wide awake pretty soon.

"Hello there." Kakashi chirped.

"You're late." stated all three members of his team, showing a rare moment of co-ordination.

"I got lost in the way of life." was what he used as his excuse. "Anyway, I hope you guys are ready, because you are now going to have to take the test to become active genin."

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Naruto, visibly confused.

"What it means is that unless you pass today's survival test, you will be sent back to the Academy." Kakashi explained.

"What the hell!" exclaimed Naruto. "Then what was the graduation exam for?"

"Oh, just to weed out the completely incompetent ones." clarified Kakashi. "So, let's get down to what to do, alright." Kakashi took out two bells from his pouch. "Your objective will be to get these bells from me within the next two hours. If you can get one bell before noon, you pass. If you don't… you fail."

"How come there are only two bells?" asked Misaki.

"Oh, so you noticed." said Kakashi, and he gave an eye smile to his team, making a chill go up their spine, "You see, this test has a 66.7% chance of failing. This is because only two of you are going to pass this test. So are you ready?" After getting a nod from Team 7, he said. "Remember, if you don't come at me with the intent to kill, you won't get the bells. Begin."

* * *

The moment Kakashi called the start to the test; both Sasuke and Misaki jumped away and hid themselves. Naruto on the other hand, had other ideas.

"Oh, you are not going to hide yourself?" asked a bemused Kakashi.

"Well, it's not like I could hide for long from a jounin of the village. I can outrun you, sure, but I don't think I could hide from _you_, Kakashi-sensei." replied Naruto, while taking a battle stance.

Naruto realized that the only time he could actually manage to get a bell off of Kakashi was when he was being underestimated. So he charged Kakashi, sticking to his idiot persona all the way. He went for a punch at Kakashi's head, which was easily swatted away. Using the momentum Naruto spun on the spot, and aimed a kick at Kakashi's midsection. Kakashi blocked the kick with his left hand, while making a grab for the leg with his right. Naruto used Kakashi's hand to boost himself away from Kakashi, before jumping right in.

Naruto this time went for left kick to the head, which Kakashi again blocked. He then used the Kakashi's hand as pivot to go for a right kick to the head, which was promptly blocked off. Kakashi then quickly jumped of the side, escaping a grab at the bells made from behind him, by a second Naruto.

* * *

Kakashi was astonished to say the least. First he was surprised that Naruto actually had good enough taijutsu to go hand to hand with him. Of course, that was the only test he passed straight up, so it wasn't that surprising. What was surprising was that it was actually a shadow clone that was fighting him, and that he almost got blindsided by the real one. It seemed Naruto never was among the three to begin with when he arrived. The fact that he made the shadow clone talk for him was enough misdirection to make people think it was the real one. The fact that it evaded the only attempt he had made at attacking was because it would have popped if it took a hit.

He didn't have much time to ponder though, as he was suddenly assaulted by a hail of shuriken from behind him.

* * *

Sasuke had watched Naruto clone engage Kakashi, and he had to say that he was impressed by how Naruto had handled himself. When Naruto missed his chance at taking the bells, Sasuke realized that there was an opening, and decided to rain Kakashi with shuriken. He was shocked when at first they hit Kakashi, before a puff of smoke revealed a log in Kakashi's place. Kakashi had replaced himself. Realizing that his position was compromised, Sasuke quickly began to move, trying to get away before Kakashi got to him. He was too late, though, as Kakashi quickly cornered him in another clearing, and engaged him.

Sasuke took out a kunai in his hand, and blocked Kakashi's attack. He then went for a swipe at Kakashi's kidney with his own kunai, only for it to be blocked. He twisted, going for a kick into Kakashi's midsection, which was blocked again. Keeping his right leg on Kakashi's arm (which was used to block the kick), Sasuke raised his left leg and aimed a kick at Kakashi's head. Kakashi managed to block this with his other arm. Sasuke was sent flying when he twisted in midair and made a grab at the bells.

* * *

Kakashi was now slightly impressed. These kids, without even understanding what the test was about, had already made him react twice in a way in which he had not planned to keep them away from those bells. And they seemed to use each other as bait to distract him before attacking themselves. He soon saw another fine example when once he sent Sasuke flying; he had to protect himself from a giant fireball that dwarfed him in size.

* * *

Misaki had decided that it was her time to shine, and had launched a full power fireball at Kakashi in hopes to get him off guard. She succeeded when Kakashi was forced to dodge. She quickly hounded Kakashi the moment he had moved, and went for a punch to the gut. Kakashi quickly blocked it, and soon found a kick coming at his face. He put up his arm to block, only to get socked in the face with a punch. Before he was sent flying, he managed to see the red eyes of Misaki.

Before he hit the tree however, he replaced himself again. Misaki quickly tried to find him, but failed miserably. He wasn't behind her, or left or right of her. Nor was he above… she quickly looked down, only to find… nothing. She concentrated her sharingan, only to find that Kakashi had left the immediate vicinity and was going back towards the clearing where they had begun the test. Misaki turned around, and found that Sasuke had recovered. A vicious grin appeared on her face, as she began formulating the plan that would cause the downfall of Hatake Kakashi.

* * *

Kakashi shivered as he began to quickly get back to his base. He was mentally cursing his luck in picking a team of kids who actually were strong, unlike those usual teams of potentials. His first encounter with the 'dead last' of the class had left him bewildered. How the hell did the brat manage to fool all those instructors at the Academy into thinking he was the 'worst' of the class. His battle strategy showed that he was smarter than he let on, and he certainly could fight. His encounter with the Uchiha boy made him wonder what they were doing at the academy. There is no way he got all that strong just by Academy teaching. The boy most probably spent most of his free time training. Then there was the girl, Misaki. She had actually managed to hit him, and she had her sharingan activated to boot. If these three were to somehow work together, there was no way he could survive without resorting to _that_.

* * *

Once Kakashi reached the clearing, he sensed two people approaching fast. He soon found out who they were, as Sasuke and Misaki landed in the clearing.

"So, are you here for the bells? Maybe you want to leave Naruto back at the Academy?" Kakashi taunted.

"Are you sure you want to play that card?" asked Misaki, a ferocious grin on her face, "Maybe you should reveal _your_ sharingan to make this fair." and for added emphasis, she activated her own.

"Tch. Don't blame me when you end up beaten to a pulp." Kakashi said, before raising his lopsided hitai-te, revealing his sharingan.

"We won't. Cause it's not gonna happen." and with that Misaki engaged Kakashi in close quarters.

Misaki went for a sweep at Kakashi's legs, which Kakashi jumped over very easily, only to dodge a fireball sent towards him by Sasuke. He was soon countering a flurry of punches and kicks by Misaki, until she suddenly retreated, and the ground suddenly glowed, before exploding. It took all his experience to replace himself with a log before he was blown to smithereens. He was then attacked by both Misaki and Sasuke in close combat. He was having a hard time keeping track of the Uchiha cousins, who were moving in and out pretty fast and were alternating randomly on who attacked. He was soon double-teamed, as both of them attacked him from both sides. He tried to keep up with them, but his concentration soon slipped when he suddenly sensed someone behind him.

Kakashi was unable to protect himself when Misaki punched him in the face for the second time in the day. He flew back, before somersaulting and landing neatly on his feet, before looking at the scene before him. Misaki still had her arm outstretched from the punch, whereas Sasuke hadn't dropped his battle stance yet. The surprising thing was that Naruto was crouching exactly where he was a little while ago, one arm stretched to the side, holding the bells which he had on his belt.

"Hm. You got the bells then, Naruto." said Kakashi, "What are going to do with them? You only need one."

Naruto looked thoughtfully at the bells, before tossing both of them to the Uchiha duo behind him. "I don't need that to pass. They never were the objective, were they?" he asked.

"So, you realized. I am actually surprised, considering you didn't team up with anyone throughout the test. I suppose it was planned before I even got here?" asked Kakashi, to which Naruto grinned.

"Of course it was planned. You see, I get around a lot, and I picked up a few skills from my pranking days. I did a little digging in the rumor mill, and do you know what I found out? That there was this one Jounin named Hatake Kakashi who had the record of never passing a team, because he had a habit of giving them the infamous bell test. I gathered all the details, and told them to Sasuke and Misaki here while you were waiting for you to arrive."

"We realized that it was a teamwork test, and that it required for us to work together. But even then, it would be sad if we never got those bells to begin with. So Misaki-chan here decided that she and Sasuke would show the teamwork, since it was hard to fit their actions with mine. All I had to do was set up traps when you followed them out of the clearing and wait. So I did just that. They managed to push you hard enough for an opening to appear, so I took it."

Kakashi was now completely bowled over. He was planning on tying them up against a log and withhold lunch in order to get them to work together. But they had exceeded all expectations. They had gathered information, exactly what a good team should do before a mission. Then they had managed to decipher the meaning of the test, and formulated a plan that would get all of them to pass.

Needless to say that Kakashi was the happiest man in the world at the moment.

* * *

**Later, At the Hokage's office**

All the Jounin sensei were gathered to give reports on which teams had managed to pass.

"Hatake Kakashi, what is your status." asked Sarutobi.

"Team 7… passes." Kakashi mentally grinned at the shocked looks that he received from his fellow Jounin. He had snagged the best team ever.

* * *

**Alright, done. Though I would have preferred a bigger chapter, I believe this is a perfect cut off point. There is still lots of things that remain to be explained, but they don't fit here. Since this was done in just a day, I believe this will be enough compensation for being late with the last chapter.**

**Next Time on Blonde Haired Devil:**

**Team 7 get started with their missions.**


	7. Meetings and… a mission?

**Author's Note**

**I'm back, folks. After an almost a week of busy student and work life, I finally get enough free time to start writing. I don't have enough free time to finish quickly though. I did a little revision on Chapter 4, but nothing too major. I just removed a duplicate flashback scene, so anyone who continues reading from here should have no problem.**

**So… Ikuze!**

**Disclaimer: Why would I be posting stories here for free if I owned Naruto or High School DxD?**

* * *

**Chapter 6: Meetings and… a mission?**

"Hello." talking

'Hello.' thinking

**"Hello."** Kyuubi talking

**'Hello.' **Kyuubi thinking

*Knock* Sound effects

**"Bunshin no Jutsu" **Jutsu

* * *

It was a bright sunny day in the village known as Konoha. The streets were bustling with people trying to get to their jobs. Among these people, several individuals could be identified to be completely different, and yet the people paid them no heed. These people were ninjas, the main driving force of the village. Two such ninja were currently strolling down one of the streets of Konoha.

"Naruto." called the girl of the duo. She was wearing a pair of black trousers and a navy blue top which ended above her navel, showcasing her well toned abdomen. A dark red jacket was tied to her waist by the sleeves, almost completely obscuring the weapon pouch hung from her belt. Her jet black hair was tied up into a pony tail, making sure that none of it got into her even darker eyes. A Konoha headband secured her bangs in place.

"What is it, Misaki-chan?" replied the boy in question. His spiky blond hair seemed very hard to manage, and his headband only managed to get them out of his vision. His sparkling blue eyes gazed through a few wild strands of hair. He was wearing a dark blue trouser that had orange flames rising up the side of the legs. His white jacket was tied to his waist as well, revealing his wire mesh undershirt. One could see a weapon pouch hanging from his left thigh.

"How did we get stuck with running this boring D-rank while Sasuke gets 1-on-1 training with Kakashi-sensei?" whined Misaki, a look of clear discontent on her face.

"You do realize that he is probably going through countless near death situations in order to get stronger?" said Naruto, not so much pleased with the situation either.

"I know… But still, I'd prefer that over running these errands." grumbled Misaki.

"Yeah, me too." agreed Naruto. "Although… we might find something interesting soon." He said as they entered an alley, only to be surrounded by several masked figures. They all were wearing the standard Anbu gear; however, their masks were all blank.

"What do we have here?" wondered Naruto aloud. One man stepped forward, and handed a black mask to Naruto.

"Uzumaki Naruto; You have been summoned to the office of our leader."

"Summoned?" mused Naruto. "Not even asked or requested? You know it's very rude to order someone you don't know. And what about this beautiful lady?" he asked, all the while playing with the mask in his hand.

"She is to finish the D-ranks that you were assigned."

"What? No fun for me?" pouted Misaki.

"Not my fault. And it's not like I'll be going anywhere fun either. Especially while wearing masks." grumbled Naruto. He then put on the mask, and motioned forward.

Naruto was pretty much manhandled like a sack of potato throughout the journey. He tried to keep track of where they were taking him, but with all the twist and turns they took he soon lost all sense of direction. They soon stopped however, and landed Naruto on his feet. He could feel the stony floor and decided they were inside; probably underground. Someone lifted his mask, and he found himself inside a stone chamber.

The room had absolutely no windows, and the only means of entry seemed to be behind him; the door which was seemingly used to bring him in. The room itself was devoid of furniture; the only thing inside was a large desk and a high backed chair, which was turned away from him. It seemed to be occupied, though.

"We have brought him." said the masked men while kneeling.

"Good. You may leave." replied a female voice from the chair. Once the men left, the chair revolved around, revealing a stunning beauty in her early 30s sitting on it. She was wearing a black dress that hugged her entire body, emphasizing on the curves. It showed plenty of cleavage, making sure that all the males would have their gaze stuck there. She had her hair tied up into a bun with a black ribbon. She was also wearing black spectacles, through which she gazed with her brown, intelligent eyes.

"Kurokami Madoka." stated Naruto, looking slightly surprised. "It's so nice to finally meet such a legend in person."

"Oh, you are flattering me." chuckled Madoka.

"So… why have I been brought to meet you?" inquired Naruto, a serious look donning his face.

"Straight to the point, I see." said Madoka. "I like that. But since you asked so nicely… I want you to do a job for me."

"A job?" asked an incredulous Naruto. "Don't you have to send it through the Hokage then? I am an active ninja. I can't go around accepting job requests from everybody."

"Oh, so you even know your boundaries I see. Don't worry. It wouldn't be anything out of your power. In fact, it has something to do with your next mission." replied Madoka slyly.

"How do _you_ know _anything _about my next mission at all?" asked an increasingly suspicious Naruto.

"Oh, I have my sources. All I need you to do…" said Madoka while fishing out a scroll from a drawer, "is to do your mission exactly as it is. This…" Madoka threw the scroll at Naruto, which he caught expertly "is just a bonus mission that you can do while on it. And no one will blame you for doing it. I'll pay you handsomely if you do this for me."

Naruto opened the scroll carefully, before scanning its contents. "How do I know that you are not setting me up?" asked Naruto.

"Because we are the same, Naruto-kun. I know about your 'condition', both of them in fact. I wouldn't harm a comrade like that." she said with a wink. "So… will you do it?" she asked.

"I'll think about it."

* * *

Naruto was walking towards the Hokage tower. He was still thinking about his bizarre meeting with the village legend known as Kurokami Madoka. The fact that he managed to meet someone who supposedly ran the entire Konoha underworld was fascinating and worrying at the same time. Even more worrying if the same person wanted something from him. He couldn't refuse her outright; that could spell to be the death of him. No, he would rather see this out and find a solution.

He soon spotted Misaki waving at him. Beside her was standing Kakashi-sensei, and beside him was… Sasuke? It was pretty hard to identify the pompous and arrogant Uchiha that once was. His clothes were torn at several different places, and lots of bruises and burns showed through the holes. His face was beaten up as well, not at all helping his look. He could barely stand, and had to lean on Kakashi with one hand to even stay upright. For once, Naruto felt guilty for leaving the bastard alone with Kakashi on one of his sadistic days. At least on the plus side, his fan girls couldn't recognize him anymore. Naruto could swear that at least 3 fan girl walked past him without noticing him. The only reason Naruto recognized him was because of his arrogant smirk.

"Naruto, hurry up." yelled Misaki. "We are getting another mission."

* * *

Team 7 was currently at the mission desk waiting for their next mission.

"I am pleased to inform you that Team 7 currently holds the highest number of D-ranks completed among the rookie genin." said the Hokage. "I believe that it is time that you were given a harder mission to prove your mettle. What do you say Kakashi?"

"I think that my team can handle a C-rank just fine." replied Kakashi, a hint of pride lingering in his voice.

"That's what I expected. Now let's see here…" said Sarutobi, while searching through the mission scrolls, "Aha! This one will be perfect." Sarutobi handed the scroll to Kakashi. "An escort mission to break them into the C-ranks."

"Who do we have to escort old man?" asked Naruto, jumping about trying to get a glance at the scroll in Kakashi's hand, and failing miserably.

"Tazuna-san, would you please come in." asked Sarutobi. A door opened, revealing a completely drunk old man holding onto a sake bottle. "Tazuna-san is a bridge builder who is building a bridge to connect Wave with the mainland. Your job is to escort him to wave and protect him until the bridge is completed."

Tazuna looked at the team that was assembled to protect him through hazy eyes. "Are you sure they can protect me? These brats don't look like they can protect themselves, let alone protect me."

The temperature of the room suddenly dropped. The Hokage and his assistants looked almost fearfully at the trio of genin, all of whom were radiating and immense amount of chill. Sasuke was looking plain murderous, the amount of emotion shown on his face was more than his usual daily emotions put together. Misaki was releasing enough killing intent to freeze Tazuna mid-step, and he did just that. Naruto on the other hand had his head lowered, his hair covering his face. Everyone expected an outburst from him, so the fact that he was trying to contain it was good. He wasn't very good at it, though. This resulted in an extreme amount of anger radiating from him, causing Tazuna's hair to stand on ends and he almost wet himself.

"I believe my Team can protect you just fine." said Kakashi through his teeth. "And even if they can't, I will be there, so you don't have to worry about anything." he finished with an eye smile that made Tazuna visibly cringe.

"So, you are accepting the mission?" asked Sarutobi.

"Of course." replied Kakashi, before turning towards his team, "I want you to pack for a week long mission and meet me at the village gate in 2 hours." He then disappeared in a swirl of leaves. Tazuna took this chance to get away from the scary genin. The genin then left the room one by one, with Naruto being the last one. Just as he was about to go…

"Naruto." called Sarutobi. Naruto looked behind his back at the wizened Hokage. "Make sure that your team comes back in one piece, will you." said Sarutobi, a touch of concern in his gaze.

"Yeah, sure." said Naruto, before leaving the office.

* * *

Uzumaki Naruto was walking towards his apartment in order to pack for the mission that he had just been handed. He was thinking about his trip to Wave, and the request by the local mafia boss.

**"Stop over thinking things brat." **growled the Kyuubi. **"Since when do you think anyway?"**

'Ha ha. Very funny.' grumbled Naruto. 'You could help me with my predicament. But no. You had to be the sarcastic little furball.'

**"Which is what I was doing, idiot. Stop making things more complicated. Did you forget your meeting with that bastard?"**

'Don't remind me. He was the worst kind of opponent for me. I had to scrape through my knowledge just to survive against him. But you are right about the over thinking part, I suppose.'

**"Of course I am. Now before you go back to your gloomy self, you do realize we will be ****_leaving_**** Konoha for this mission?"** asked the humongous nine-tailed demon fox.

'That's right!' Naruto exclaimed, 'I got to pack properly. I haven't exactly gone that much away from Konoha before. This will be my first excursion outside; into the world. Thanks for reminding me, fuzbutt.'

**"My pleasure brat." **said the Kyuubi, before going back to its nap.

* * *

Uchiha Sasuke was struggling. He was having a hard time figuring out his own worth. Before he became a genin, he used to be the strongest of his age. He could beat anyone when they sparred. He could even take two or three academy students together on his best day. He even was the rookie of the year. So how the hell was he being beaten by his teammates?

He had expected Misaki to be strong, but not on his par and certainly not better than him. In all of the one-on-one spars he had had with Misaki, he had his ass handed to him. He had not been beaten so overwhelmingly by anyone else, not even by Kakashi. And she even had activated her sharingan. This only added to his humiliation. Not only was he weaker than her on normal means, she also managed to get the coveted clan dojutsu to activate before him.

Naruto was a complete wild card. He knew that the boy had talent; he had deciphered that much from his spars with him at the Academy. But the fact that he can outmaneuver him in a spar now is alarming. The boy was practically the dead last. And the moment he graduated he becomes better than him. That is just outrageous. At least he could match the boy most of the time. He had also been increasingly able to win against him; and he soon hoped to match their win: loss ratio, which currently hung towards Naruto still by a big margin.

Now, he was forced to go through training which was torturous in order to become strong enough to beat them. He was not going to be the weakest link in the team, no way in hell.

That was when he saw the time.

"FUUUUUUUCK."

* * *

Hatake Kakashi was at Team 7's regular training ground, a little far away from the clearing where he made them go through the bell test. He was standing in front of a small monument, one which held lots of names written on it. He just stood there, looking at the names of the people who died in battle. His gaze lingered on two different names for a long time. He crouched down, and with one hand traced one of those names.

'My Team got their first C-rank mission today.' thought Kakashi. 'We are going to Wave in order to protect a bridge builder named Tazuna. I hope they can handle themselves properly. It's an ugly world out there. Don't you agree, Obito?'

* * *

Uchiha Misaki was going through her backpack, making sure that she had gotten everything she needed for a week long mission.

'Change of clothes, check. Weapons, check. Healing kit, check. Food, check. I guess I don't need to take anything much, except for maybe a tent and a sleeping bag.'

She grabbed the tent and sleeping bag, stuffed them inside her bag, and headed out for the village gate. While she walked, she looked around, taking in the views of the village that was Konoha. She was going to leave it for the very first time, and she was going to take a few memories of it with her for sure. She could never go to the field trip from the Academy which took them to a nearby place outside Konoha. Her family wouldn't let her go somewhere that might endanger losing the sharingan. And after the clan was brutally massacred by Uchiha Itachi, the village council wouldn't let any means of reviving the clan leave the village that easy.

As she admired the views, she soon spotted Naruto running over the top of the roofs, looking pretty flustered. Before she could call his name however, he landed on the roof of the shop beside which she was standing, slipped on pretty much nothing, and landed headfirst into the pavement.

"Naruto!" yelled Misaki. "What the hell are you doing?"

Naruto pulled himself up from the small hole that he created on the ground. "I was already late for the meeting. I was trying to get there on time, when I slipped." He explained, dusting himself off as he spoke.

"What do you mean by you were late? There's still plenty of …." Misaki trailed off as she noticed the time on a wall clock hanging inside a store. She stood still for a moment, before grabbing Naruto's hand and making a break for the gate.

"Wha-ha-at the-e he-e-el-ll…" screamed Naruto, as he literally flew in the air behind Misaki.

* * *

Tazuna had been waiting at the village gate for about half an hour now, but there seemed to be no sign of the team that was supposed to protect him. He was beginning to doubt his decision for coming to Konoha. If this was the kind of protection he was going to get, he would have gone somewhere else. But, he didn't have the time. He had to get out of Wave quickly when he left, and the closest place with ninja was Konoha.

If the team assigned to him was this unprofessional, he could pretty much kiss his life goodbye. This was why he had been taking large swigs from his bottle of sake. He needed something to drown the twinge of guilt that he felt at the bottom of his stomach. If those brats died protecting him… No. He wasn't going to let it get to him. As he was making his mind up…

"Watch out!" yelled a voice. Tazuna looked up, and saw two people running at him… Actually, it was one girl running at him while dragging a boy behind him. He quickly jumped out of the way as the duo ran straight through the place he was standing in before ramming straight into a wall. As the two picked themselves up, he recognized them as the genin that would protect him. The black haired girl was named Misaki, he recalled, and the blonde haired boy was called … Fishcake?

"Hmm." Misaki said, dusting herself off. "Oh, look Naruto. No one else is here. We must be early."

"EARLY!" shouted Tazuna. "I have been waiting half an hour for you." he fumed, wondering how irresponsible these brats were.

"Yeah, no kidding. I almost thought I was going to be chewed out by Kakashi-sensei." mused Naruto, completely ignoring the drunken bridge builder's outburst.

"Oi, stop ignoring me!" complained Tazuna. He was about to say something else, when …

"Get out of the way." came a shout. Tazuna turned around, only to be almost run over by another person, who somehow managed to dodge him, with extremely fluid movements, by a hair's width, only to plow straight into the hole in the wall created by the duo before him.

The boy pulled himself out of the crater and gave him a glare from the corner of his eyes. Tazuna shivered, remembering his previous encounter with the team at the mission office. He quickly regretted ever doubting these brats. Unruly they might be, but they were damn scary when they were pissed.

"Sasuke!" yelled Naruto. "You're later than us. What the hell were you doing?"

"It's none of your damn business." growled the said Uchiha.

"Were you… you know…" hedged Misaki, fidgeting like a certain Hyuuga heiress.

* * *

Somewhere outside Konoha, Hyuuga Hinata sneezed.

* * *

"I know what?" asked a confused Sasuke.

"Were you…. watching porn?" whispered Misaki.

"What the hell!" yelled a bewildered and embarrassed Sasuke. His cheeks heated up, and showed a faint pink color. "Why would I be doing that? No. NO. Just no." He sputtered.

"Really?" asked a visibly deflated Misaki. "I thought all boys watched porn."

"Maybe he was masturbating?" piped Naruto, causing another outburst.

"Why would I be doing that before a mission you idiot?" yelled Sasuke.

* * *

"Yo." said Kakashi as he arrived at the scene half an hour even later. He found Tazuna holding onto his head while squatting down, empty bottle of sake strewn around him, showing clear signs of a hangover. His genin were bickering among them. Sasuke was pretty flustered, having flushed up and stuttering every once in a while. Naruto seemed to be engrossed in whatever it was that they were arguing about. Misaki seemed to be completely enjoying the show that her teammates had put up. "What's going on?" He asked.

"Oh, we were just talking about whether Sasuke was gay or not." replied Misaki nonchalantly.

"Am not!" yelled an adamant Sasuke.

"But the way you run away from all those fangirls, and finding other boys and showing your 'dominance' over them is clearly because you bat for the other team, right?" questioned Naruto.

"If you tolerate those annoying fangirls, you are free to do so. But I am not going to be 'taken' by any one of those manic buffoons. And you know better than anyone else why I want to be stronger than others." protested Sasuke.

"If you really are straight, I dare you to go and find yourself a date." challenged Naruto.

"I accept." said Sasuke.

"Now, now." interrupted Kakashi. "We can have a discussion about Sasuke's sexuality after this mission is over. I want all three of you to take this mission seriously and protect Tazuna-san here with your life."

"Yes sir." chorused the three together, showing a rare moment of seriousness.

"But we wouldn't have to do much because this is a C-rank escort mission. So no pressure." said Kakashi.

"Ikuze!" yelled Naruto, leading the group as they left the village, with an almost knocked out Tazuna being carried on the shoulder by Kakashi.

* * *

**Omake**

**Andrew: Alright, we are done with another installment of Blonde Haired Devil.**

**Naruto: Yippee.**

**Andrew: This time, it's more than 3500 words. I hope I did a good job this time around.**

**Naruto: Shouldn't you be making the chapters bigger?**

**Andrew: It's hard, okay. I am not that used to writing, soI can't write 10000 words without breaking a sweat.**

**Naruto: But still, you could've added our journey to Wave in this chapter.**

**Andrew: You have my life to thank for that. I'd rather do the Wave Arc separately in a big chapter. I'll start writing as soon as I can, so you guys don't have to worry much.**

**Naruto: At least you are writing again. That's a plus.**

**Andrew: Always is. Now take it from here.**

**Naruto: Next time on Dragon Ball… oops, wrong story. Next time on Blonde Haired Devil.**

**Andrew: Naruto on gang go to Wave in order to protect a drunken old bridge builder named Tazuna. What adventures await them there? Who is Kurokami Madoka? And what is the secret mission that she gave Naruto? Will Naruto do the mission? Find out…**

**Chorus: Next time on Blonde Haired Devil.**


	8. The Demon of the Bloody Mist

**Disclaimer: Do I have to do this? **

* * *

**Chapter 7: The Demon of the Bloody Mist**

"Hello." talking

'Hello.' thinking

**"Hello."** Kyuubi talking

**'Hello.' **Kyuubi thinking

*Knock* Sound effects

**"Bunshin no Jutsu" **Jutsu

* * *

Konoha had a reason for being called the village hidden in the leaves. It was surrounded by a humongous forest in all direction, making it very hard to find. If anyone tried to get to Konoha through the forest without a proper guidance, they were bound to get lost. . The only way anyone could get to it was through the paths that were made by clearing the trees. On one such path, one could see a group of people, moving away from the village of Konoha. The group was being led by a black haired boy, followed by a clearly drunken old man, who was flanked by one blonde haired boy and a black haired girl. The rear was brought up by a silver haired masked man.

"So, why does someone from Wave need an escort from Konoha?" asked the blonde haired boy. "Don't they have ninja of their own?"

"No they don't Naruto." replied Kakashi, the silver haired man, "In fact, there are only so many countries that actually have ninja of their own, even fewer have a hidden village, and only five of those villages have a Kage."

"Really?" asked a puzzled Naruto. "So Konoha is one of those hidden villages?"

"Yes." this time, Misaki replied, "The other four are Suna, Kiri, Kumo and Iwa."

"Oh!" exclaimed Naruto. "I have heard of them. Didn't realize they were the only ones that had a Kage."

"Of course you wouldn't, dobe." interjected Sasuke. "You never paid attention to class did you?"

"Ehehehehe…" chuckled Naruto nervously while rubbing the back of his head.

As the group made small talk, they continued their journey towards Wave. Tazuna was mostly out of it, not making too much contribution to the conversation. He was pretty groggy too, slowing them down a lot. He almost fell right into a puddle of water, if not for Naruto grabbing hold of the man and pulling him away. Kakashi carefully stepped over it, before taking a step forward. That was when all hell broke lose.

Two men came right out of the puddle, and charged Kakashi. They had a metal claw on one arm, which was connected by a metal chain with each other. They wore a slashed Kiri headband each signifying they were missing nin.

They ran straight at Kakashi, pulling their chain taut. They then wrapped the wire around Kakashi from behind, and before he could do anything, they seemingly pulled the chain right through him.

"One down…" one of the two trailed off, realizing they had just pulled their chain through nothing. Kakashi had just dissolved instead of bursting onto a shower of blood and flesh. They looked around in confusion, completely forgetting about the three genin.

Big mistake.

One of them was suddenly forced to dodge a swipe from a kunai by Naruto. He quickly recovered, before clawing at the brat. He seemed to have got him when his arm punched straight through the boy, only for the said boy to burst into a plume of smoke. He frantically turned around, only to be kicked right in the face and sent flying.

The other one was also having a hard time. He had been forced to dodge two different fireballs before being engaged in close quarters by Sasuke. He was pushed into defense by the Uchiha prodigy, and not given much of an opening. He soon got frustrated, and swatted away Sasuke's thrown kunai before going for a punch, which Sasuke dodged.

There was something wrong with the punch though, as the chain seemed to have some unnatural resistance to it. He turned around, only to be hit face on by his flying brother. He had pulled his brother right onto him with the punch. They both flew right into a tree, before slumping into the ground.

"Good work, team." praised Kakashi, as he walked out from behind a tree. "That was pretty well handled. Naruto and Sasuke, good job on neutralizing the threat; Misaki, your backup was good." the three genin nodded, before falling back and stood beside a shivering Tazuna. "I believe you have some explaining to do, Tazuna-san." Kakashi said, looking pointedly at Tazuna.

* * *

"So… Tazuna-san. Care to explain _why_ you have the Demon Brothers of the Mist after your life?" asked Kakashi with a grave look.

Team 7 had surrounded Tazuna, not just to keep him safe, but as an added measure to ensure he didn't try to escape. They all leaked a certain amount of killing intent as an assurance of pain if he didn't explain. The Demon Brothers, the two Kiri missing nin that had attacked them, was currently bound together to a tree, not far from the group.

Tazuna looked at the expressions on the face of the people who were meant to protect him, and realized that he couldn't shirk away from this situation. He looked at the two ninja tied to the tree, and released a sigh. He steeled his resolve, before he began.

"Fine, I'll explain." said Tazuna, a helpless look on his face, "The Wave country hasn't been in the best of shapes for the past few years. Our economy is in shambles, and we are having a very hard time turning it around. And it is all because of one man. Have you heard of a man named Gatou?" he asked.

"Gatou…" Kakashi trailed off, before a look of knowing dawned on his face. Unknown to him, Naruto had duplicated his expression. "As in Gatou from Gatou Corporations?"

"The very same." replied Tazuna.

"Who is Gatou, Kakashi-sensei?" asked Misaki.

It was Naruto who answered her question. "Gatou is a famous businessman in Wave. He owns a shipping company, which had turned him into one of the richest private individuals in the world." Everyone gave a shocked look and Naruto, who ignored it.

Tazuna quickly shrugged the shock of, before continuing. "That is just the official story. The truth is that he uses the shipping company as the front to run illegal activities. Extortion, smuggling drugs, assassinations, prostitution; there is no crime in which Gatou hasn't tried his hands in. It is because of him that our country's economy was destroyed in the first place. He had pretty much run us dry. And now, he is using his ships to block the trade routes in and out of Wave, demanding extremely high tariff from anyone who wants to cross the water."

"It was too much for us. If his reign of crime were to continue like this, the whole country will fall into ruins, and soon we will have nothing left. So, as an act of defiance and as means to bring the economy back up, Me and some of my colleagues began to build a bridge that connect the island of Wave with the mainland. It was inevitable that Gatou would get news of what we were doing, and once he did, he began to scare away my workers. But he realized that just by doing that he wouldn't stop this bridge from completing. So, he put a price on my head, which is why those two men wanted to kill me." He explained.

"So why didn't you say so at the beginning?" asked Misaki.

"Because if I did, this would be at least a B-rank mission, if not A-rank; we can only pay for a C-rank mission, even after pooling all our funds together." said Tazuna.

"Is that so?" said Kakashi, pondering over what had just been said.

* * *

Naruto looked to the distance as he heard Tazuna's explanation. Before long however, he completely was lost in thought, and very little of what was said registered into his mind. He heard about Gatou, and was where his attention to the conversation ended. He was worried, thinking about the scroll given to him by Madoka, and what it had entailed. Did she know about the mistake in ranking, and had made sure they get the mission? This was very distressing.

"You have hidden information from us, Tazuna-san. This mission can no longer be classified as a simple C-rank escort mission. I have the power to order my team back to the village for this." said Kakashi in a domineering tone.

"Please don't…" began Tazuna, but he was silenced by the glance that Kakashi gave him.

"But I will not do that." he said, before turning to his team, "I'll leave the decision in your capable hands. Do you think you can handle a harder mission?" he asked them.

Naruto was brought out from his thoughts with the question. He looked at Kakashi and said confidently, "I can handle whatever that Gatou guys throw at us. I am more worried about whether these two can take care of themselves." he motioned at his two team members… before getting smacked on the head.

"Don't be so full of yourself, Naruto." fumed Misaki, "And of course I can deal with it." She hit him on the head again as added measure.

"… And what about you Sasuke?" asked Kakashi.

"Hmph." he nodded. "I have no problem with continuing."

"That settles it then." announced Kakashi cheerfully. "We are going to continue towards Wave."

Tazuna let out a sigh of relief. 'It's a good thing they are an impulsive bunch. I didn't even have to pull out my guilt trip card to get them come along.'

"So, what are we waiting for?" asked Naruto impatiently. "Let's go already."

* * *

The group had been walking for quite a while. It was afternoon currently, and it would soon go dark. The sun was already close to the horizon, and it was only a matter of time before it sunk. Naruto was already impatient. He was pretty much jumping with each step with irritation. The other two weren't any better, but managed to hide it well.

"How long is it going to take?" asked Naruto finally, his impatience getting the better of him.

"We will be there soon." replied Tazuna. "Look. We can already see the sea from here." he said, pointing straight ahead.

The whole group looked forward, and caught a glimpse of the sea. In fact, they were pretty close to it. The only reason they didn't see it before was due to the mist that had gathered around them, something which they didn't notice before this point. They soon reached the shore, and saw a boat waiting for them.

"Tazuna." said the old man standing beside the boat. He quickly hurried forward. "I almost thought you wouldn't show up. If you had been any later, I would have left."

"Sorry about that." replied Tazuna. "Got into a bit of trouble on the way. Nothing too big. Anyway, these are the ninja that are here to protect me." he said, before introducing Team 7 to the old captain.

"Come on." he said, while waving them on. "Hop onto the boat. We haven't got all day."

They quickly clambered onto the speed boat, and soon set off. Not before long, they came across a huge silhouette in the mist.

"That right there is my pride." said Tazuna, pointing at the shadow with some smugness. "That's the bridge that I have been building. Once it is completed, it is going to revive the economy of Wave."

"Wow, it's huge." said Misaki admiring the huge bridge. "Hey Naruto look at that…" she trailed off, finally noticing Naruto.

Naruto was pretty much stuck to the side of the boat, holding on to the railing in order to keep his balance. His face was completely blue, and he seemed to be heaving, only nothing was actually coming out of his mouth. He was already past the vomiting part, and now it was just dry heaves that ran through him every few seconds.

"Oh my god!" exclaimed Misaki. "What happened to you." she quickly ran over to him, but couldn't get too close.

"The boat. It. Moves so much. Cant. Handle it. Feeling. Sick." managed Naruto in between heaves.

"Hmph" grunted Sasuke. "The idiot can't even handle riding a boat." he sneered.

"Shut. Up. Bastard. Once. I get off. This Wretched Boat. I'll. Beat the Crap. Out of you." Naruto said.

"Whatever." said Sasuke.

* * *

They had finally reached the shore. Naruto was slowly getting back to normal, and was moving around with almost as much energy as he had before the boat debacle. The captain had left with the boat hurriedly, saying something about Gatou controlling the waters and what would happen if he found out.

"We only have to walk for another hour before we reach my place." said Tazuna, lifting everyone's mood.

Things had gone very smoothly for them since their encounter with the Demon Brothers. Too smoothly, in fact. Kakashi had expected at least one more attempt on Tazuna's life. This did not bode very well, and he raised his awareness level.

It was Naruto who noticed it however. Naruto threw a kunai into the bushes, causing a small burst of chakra to appear on that spot. There was another burst of chakra somewhere behind them, before a swooshing noise announced the movements of something.

"Everyone get down!" yelled Kakashi, diving to the ground, having grabbed Tazuna before him. The three genin ducked under the swirling huge cleaver that passed right above their heads, before embedding itself deep into a tree.

"Copy ninja Kakashi." echoed a seemingly body less voice. "I didn't expect you here." The voice echoed all around the place, before settling on top of the sword. "No wonder the Demon Brother's failed." said the voice, which came from the man standing on top of the sword. His spiky black hair hung over his sideways headband, which showed a slashed insignia of Kiri, showing his previous allegiance. He was shirtless, with only the belt for his sword hanging on his chest. He wore baggy pants with striped patterns and had elbow long wrist-warmers and matching leg warmers.

"Momochi Zabuza," identified Kakashi, "Demon of the Bloody Mist. I should have known you would be here. The Demon Brothers were said to have defected around the same time as you."

"You wouldn't happen to just give up the old man, will you." asked Zabuza. "If you did, we wouldn't have to go through a fight, and we can walk away like professionals."

"That can't happen, Zabuza." said Kakashi. "We are professionals, as you said. And as professionals, I can't leave a client behind." He looked at Tazuna and said, "Even if the client withholds important information."

"It can't be helped then." said Zabuza, jumping down from his sword. He pulled his sword out from the tree, "I really didn't want to kill three green brats but, there's no helping it." He said with a sadistic grin, which completely opposed his sentence. He raised one hand to his mouth and another above his head.

**"Kirigakure no Jutsu." **called Zabuza, and an immediate increase in the mist could be seen. The area was soon covered in so much mist, that it was hard to see their hands, let alone anything else.

"You three guard Tazuna." yelled Kakashi, "I'll take him on."

"No fucking way." replied Naruto, though he still moved into position. "Why do you get to fight him? We can take him on."

"Are you sure brat?" Zabuza's voice echoed from everywhere. "You would end up dead." And with that, he released a killer intent so strong that Tazuna collapsed to his knees. All three of the genin were still standing, but the pressure was making it hard for them.

"Were will I hit?" pondered Zabuza out lot, his voice still seemingly coming out from nowhere and everywhere."There are 8 vital points. So many choices." he said, sounding as if he was salivating from the prospect of killing.

"Don't worry." said Kakashi. "I don't let my comrades die."

"Then maybe this will be the first time?" Zabuza said. All three of the genin panicked, as the voice came from right in between them, where Tazuna was. Zabuza swung his sword, when Kakashi quickly teleported in an stopped the sword with his kunai. Sasuke used that chance to throw a kunai at Zabuza, who let it hit him, before dissolving into water.

'Mizu Bunshin?' though Sasuke, almost panicking. He watched as Kakashi got cleaved in two by Zabuza's sword who suddenly appeared behind him, before he also turned to water. Kakashi appeared behind Zabuza, only to be swatted away by a powerful swing from Zabuza's sword. Zabuza then used the same swing to twist around and cleave the three genin and Tazuna, only for them to disappear in a puff of smoke.

"Kage Bunshin!" exclaimed a surprised Zabuza. He quickly and silently moved out of his position, and not too soon either. The moment he was clear of the area, it lit up before exploding in a cloud of smoke. The shockwave also effectively blew away the Mist, revealing everyone's positions.

Zabuza found himself standing right on the shore, in between the water and Team 7. Kakashi and his genin had formed up, but there was no sign of Tazuna.

"Where is the old man?" asked Zabuza, a bit of anger in his voice.

"Wouldn't you like to know." taunted Misaki. "Kakashi-sensei, leave him to us. You make sure Tazuna-san is safe."

"Are you sure?" asked Kakashi. He couldn't help but be concerned.

"We'll be fine." the reply came from Sasuke. "You should know better than anyone what we can do together."

"True." replied Kakashi. "I still don't know all of it, though." He formed a Mizu Bunshin. "I'll leave him as backup. Don't mess up." he said, before leaving the area.

"Hahahahahahahaha!" laughed Zabuza hysterically. "Do you brats think you can take me, The Demon of the Bloody Mist all on your own?"

"We don't think. We know so." replied Naruto.

"Cheeky. But that won't help you in a fight, will it? Let's see if you have the skills to back up your claim." exclaimed Zabuza, before charging the three genin.

Zabuza closed on them very quickly, making a horizontal slash at them, aiming to split them in half from the waistline. The three of them jumped away in different directions to avoid it.. Naruto was to the right of Zabuza, and on the opposite direction of the sword. He quickly moved in, a kunai at hand. He was forced to bend back however, when Zabuza showed plenty of agility with sword, moving it back for another slice. Misaki, who was on the other end of Naruto, took the chance. With her sharingan spinning rapidly, she sped right inside Zabuza's guard, but was still on the slow side, as Zabuza still managed to bring the sword around, this time continuing the swing he made at Naruto.

Misaki agilely jumped over the swing, before pushing off the blade with her hands. She aimed a heel drop on Zabuza, using the push to do a back flip right above him. Zabuza blocked it with one arm. With Zabuza otherwise occupied, Sasuke quickly charged him, and shoved a kunai right at his solar plexus. He couldn't finish the stab though, as Zabuza displayed his physical prowess by swinging the heavy meat cleaver of a sword with just one hand. Sasuke was forced to slide down onto his knees, before passing right through Zabuza's spread out legs. He managed to inflict some damage however, as he planted the kunai right into the backside of his left knee.

Zabuza howled with rage and anger, and swatted all three of them away with the flat side of his sword. The three genin retreated, a smug grin appearing on their face. Zabuza stood there, while panting. "You will pay." he said, bending down. He yanked the kunai out, "YOU'LL PAY!" he roared.

He quickly ran through several hand signs, before shouting, **"Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu." **A large column of water rose from the sea before falling onto the trio. The three barely managed to dodge it, before Zabuza zoomed in on them, albeit limping slightly. Zabuza swung his sword at Naruto, trying to crush his head with just the force of the swing. Naruto however, surprised all the people present by stopping the swing with a cross block using two kunai. Zabuza grunted, as he put more force into the attack, but Naruto was not going to be out matched. His feet dug into the ground as he began releasing tendrils of chakra from his body. The chakra soon changed color, switching from the obvious blue to the shocking red that people only associated with the Kyuubi.

'What is this kid?' though Zabuza. Not many people can block his swings, and a mere child is doing the seemingly impossible. He was so mesmerized by the brats physical ability, he was almost blindsided when the other two members of the team threw perfectly timed fireballs at him. He quickly dodged, but he couldn't escape the brunt of the explosion. He was sent flying. He tried to right himself in midair, but he soon found Naruto right under him. He was hit in the head with a rising kick, making him fly straight up. Before he could even get his bearings right, he was engulfed in a ball of flame twice the size from the ones before.

**"Combination: Katon: Goukakyou no Jutsu," **yelled Sasuke and Misaki. They watched as Zabuza fell from the sky, parts of his clothing had caught fire, and he was smoking. He crashed right into the ground, creating a medium sized crater. The genin walked to the hole, to find Zabuza using his sword to prop himself up.

"You… can't defeat me." he said, staggering on his feet. "You are just some rookie genin." He said before swinging his sword with all his strength at them. He never finished the swing, as several senbon came flying at him and hit him right on the neck. He slumped down on the spot. An Anbu jumped out from the trees and walked towards Zabuza's body.

"Thank you for weakening him so much. I couldn't have killed him if not for your help." the boy said.

"Who are you?" asked Naruto suspiciously.

"I am a Kiri hunter nin. I have been after Zabuza for a really long time. He was very strong. I am not embarrassed to admit that I couldn't beat him alone. Because you beat him up so much that I was presented with the opportunity." said the boy.

Misaki approached the body, before checking for the regular signs of life. "No pulse, no breathing; I think he really is dead." She gave her opinion.

"If you don't mind, I'll be taking his body." said the hunter nin, before lifting the body up, holding it under his arms. "I am really grateful." He said, giving them a parting glance, before jumping away.

"Well, that was weird." said Naruto.

"Definitely. At least, that take cares of that." agreed Misaki.

"Not exactly." interrupted Sasuke. Naruto and Misaki turned to him, clearly not understanding what he meant. "That was a hunter nin, right." They nodded. "Then why didn't he dispose of the body right here?" he asked.

The two were still bewildered for a moment, before catching on to what he meant. "You mean the hunter nin was Zabuza's accomplice?" asked Misaki.

"I think so, yes." confirmed Sasuke. He turned to Kakashi clone. "You can dissipate now." and with that the clone dissolved into water.

"We need to get to Tazuna-san's home." said Naruto

* * *

**Omake**

**Andrew: Whew, Another Chapter done. I must say that I was on a role.**

**Naruto: You still picked an interesting cut off point again.**

**Andrew: Well can't be helped. This chapter is near 4000 words without the Omake.**

**Naruto: True, I guess. Won't there be anyone else in this Omake I wonder.**

**Andrew: Oh be patient. It's not like you are going anywhere. Anyway, take it away.**

**Naruto: Alright. Next Time on Blonde Haired Devil:**

**Naruto: We are still in Wave. We managed to put off Zabuza's attack, but he will be back for more, and this time with backup. Can we defeat him again and protect Tazuna-san? And what does Madoka want me to do? Find out Next Time.**

**Naruto (aside): Why am I being forced to say silly things like this by myself?**


	9. Memories

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or High School DxD. If I did, I would have been rich and wouldn't have to worry about money at all.**

* * *

**Chapter 8: Memories**

"Hello." talking

'Hello.' thinking

**"Hello."** Kyuubi talking

**'Hello.' **Kyuubi thinking

*Knock* Sound effects

**"Bunshin no Jutsu" **Jutsu

* * *

Zabuza was currently on a bed, a pair of senbon needles sticking out of his neck. The hunter-nin stood over him as he slowly reached forward and removed the needles. The hunter-nin retracted his hands, but Zabuza's hand shot up and stopped it.

"Ouch! Dammit." groaned Zabuza, trying to sit up. "You had to pick the neck, didn't you, Haku?"

"I didn't want to blemish Zabuza-sama's perfect skin." replied Haku, the hunter-nin. "You shouldn't force yourself to get up. It takes quite a while to get fully back from the dead."

"Gah!" Zabuza fell back on the bed, unable to push himself up. "If the method is dangerous, don't use it." he scolded Haku.

"There was no other way, Zabuza-sama." said Haku. "Those three were pretty thorough in their attack and teamwork. There was no way I could have interfered and helped us win. And they didn't even get any help from their Jounin-sensei either."

"That's true isn't it?" said Zabuza. Looking back at the battle, he was completely swept away by their pace. Very few squads can act with such great display of teamwork. There weren't any perceptible signals, nor were any words said during the actual assault. This meant they trusted each other greatly enough to attack him without worrying about getting caught in a crossfire.

"Heh." smirked Zabuza, and Haku felt pity for the three genin who put up such a great fight. "They made it into my bingo book for sure."

"Oh, before I forget, there was some sort of message in your pocket." said Haku. He rummaged inside his pocket, and pulled a piece of paper from it. He handed the parchment to Zabuza.

Zabuza opened the parchment, and immediately fell silent.

_'Do what you have to do. Kurokami Madoka'_

'Kurokami Madoka, huh….' thought Zabuza.

* * *

_Flashback_

A young Zabuza was walking through the streets of the hidden village of Kiri. He had the standard Anbu wear, with only discrepancy being his sword, Kubikiribocho. He was an Anbu member, and he was a famous one too. The Demon of the Bloody Mist was what he was called. Quite a catchy name, don't you think? He was off duty right now, though. He was wondering what he should do with his spare time. Sharpen all the kunai that he had? Nah, too boring. Maybe he should sharpen a certain 'special kunai'. As pondered about his dilemma, he noticed a commotion up ahead. A crowd had gathered around. He walked to the crowd, and very easily got to the front, since the people just bisected when they noticed him. He found a young woman surrounded by several ruffians.

"You think you can take us all on?" yelled one of the ruffians. Zabuza recognized the man as Shinichi, the head of a local street gang.

"Of course I can, or else my name is not Kurokami Madoka!" replied the woman. "Come on, start already. Or are you afraid?" She teased.

"Fine! Take her out!" commanded Shinichi, and all the goons charged forward.

Madoka blocked an incoming punch from the right, before she bent to her left, pulling the attacker down with a takedown. She ducked under a kick, before grabbing onto the leg. She then heaved the man off his other feet, before swinging him around in full three circles, effectively knocking out all the rest of the attackers by their own comrade. She then lifted the man up high, before slamming him down onto Shinichi, wrapping up the overly one-sided fight.

"Like I said, I can beat all of you." said Madoka. She huffed, getting hair out of her eyes. She turned around, finally noticing the crowd that had gathered. "What are you looking at?" she growled. "Come on. Move along. Nothing to see here." she said, her irritation clearly showing. The crowd quickly dispersed, scared of what she could do to them.

Madoka began walking away, and for some weird reason, Zabuza followed. He didn't even know why, but he just had a feeling that he had to. They soon rounded a corner, ended up inside a dead end alley. Madoka turned around, and confronted Zabuza.

"What do you want?" she spat, clearly irritated that she was being followed.

"Uh…" Zabuza wondered himself. "You are strong." He said the first thing that came to his mind.

"So?" asked Madoka, clearly not impressed.

"I was wondering who taught you." said Zabuza quickly, trying to decide what to do. "Not many people can fight like that empty-handed around here, especially when they are not a ninja."

"That's because I am not from around here." she replied, slightly relaxing.

"Really? Where are you from?" asked Zabuza, easing up. The conversation was actually going somewhere!

"I am from Land of Fire." she said. Her guard was still up.

Zabuza whistled. "That's from quite far. What are you doing here at Kiri?"

"I am a businesswoman. I travel all over the world, making sure that my businesses are working fine, and acquiring new ones." she replied.

"Wow." marveled Zabuza. "You can fight for a businesswoman."

"Well of course." said Madoka, her nose rising up. "I have to be able to protect myself. The bodyguards tend to be incompetent."

"You could always hire ninja." offered Zabuza.

"It's costly to get any good ones. I would rather do it myself." Madoka said, irritation really oozing out of her voice. "And you are quite rude you know."

"What do you mean?" Zabuza was clearly defensive.

"Here I am giving you information about myself, and you are yet to introduce yourself." she criticized.

"Sorry about that." chuckled Zabuza nervously. "My name is Momochi Zabuza. But I am better known as Demon of the Bloody Mist."

_Flashback end_

* * *

That was the day Zabuza had first met Kurokami Madoka. A feisty young woman she was, and she knew how to drive a deal home to. And once she set her mind to something, she would accomplish it. He could still remember how she had gone about getting him to guard her for free.

* * *

_Flashback_

It has been two weeks since Zabuza had met Madoka. After talking for a while, they had grabbed a bit of lunch before exchanging addresses and parting. That was the last time he saw her. Currently, he was out on a mission. He was supposed to infiltrate a certain fortress near the borders and kill the leader of the bandit group that had taken it over, without being seen of course.

He was standing on a tree branch, not too far away from the fortress, but far enough to remain undetected. He had summoned lots of mist just to help him with the task. Since they were near the sea, a bit of mist was not suspicious, but rather natural.

The fortress was an old one. It had been built around the time of the first shinobi war, and had been used a lot back then. But as the wars were over, so was the need to maintain the fortress. It was left unattended and abandoned, causing it to fall into ruins. There were several sections of the wall that had collapsed, resulting in gaping holes in the structure. This made it very hard to believe that somebody was actually inside the fortress. A closer inspection however, would reveal a completely different story. There were evidences of patchwork done near the western side of the fortress, and the holes in the wall on that side revealed a corridor that had been blocked off. Zabuza was sure that if anyone tried to enter the fortress from the other sides would fall into a series of traps.

Just as he was done scoping the place out, he had to come up with a plan. One that left him in the shadows. He'd have to play it very safe. Maybe he should…

"Ah, Zabuza-kun." called out a voice from behind him, startling him out of his perch. He landed face first into the ground, right at the feet of the owner of the voice. His body twitched a little, as he remained upside down, face stuck into the ground for a few moments, before he quickly up righted himself. He finally noticed the person who called him. "Remember me?" asked the woman in front of him.

"Kurokami Madoka…" remembered Zabuza. "Why are you here?"

"Oh… just on a little business trip. What about you?" she asked.

"I am working." grumbled Zabuza. This was bad. He was already seen, albeit not by the group of bandits. This just made it harder for him. "What kind of business brings you to the middle of nowhere?"

"I just need to talk to the person inside that fortress." answered Madoka, pointing at the fortress Zabuza was scoping out.

"Why?" asked Zabuza. This was not going to work out, it would seem.

"I was going to hire his mercenary group for a little bit of 'muscle work'." she replied. "What about you?"

"Can't say that to you. It's a secret mission. If I told you, I would have to kill you." replied Zabuza, trying to sound menacing.

"Oooh! A secret mission. I hope you succeed Zabuza-kun. I should get going though. I am running late already. Shouldn't make the bandits wait, right." Madoka skipped away, before turning around and waving at Zabuza.

'Zabuza-kun… huh.' thought a dumb-struck Zabuza. He stood there for a while, before finally breaking out of his stupor. He still had a mission to complete, one which had gotten several times harder. Or had it?

* * *

Madoka walked towards the fortress, the spring in her steps clearly visible. However, her mind was whirring at a surprisingly fast speed. She considered all the known facts, and decided that she had stepped right into Zabuza's mission. And if she knew any better (and she did), she was going to be used in order to ensure the missions success. A feral grin appeared on her face for a split second before going back to the cheerful smile. If she was going to be used, she was going to get back the proper payment for it, god be damned.

As she approached the gate, it opened by itself, revealing two guards.

"Who goes there?" called the guard.

"Kurokami Madoka. I have an appointment."

The guard looked at a list, before motioning her forward. They checked her thoroughly, ensuring that she didn't have any weapons on her, before letting her in. One of the guards led her inside. They passed through a labyrinth of corridors before arriving at a door.

"The boss is waiting for you inside." said the guard, before leaving her there. Madoka stood in front of the door, watching the guard leave. Once he disappeared from view, she turned around and faced the door. She knocked on the door, before walking in.

Once inside, she took a few moments to grasp the surrounding. The room was very chilly. There was no visible ventilation, but a cold wind seemed to blow around the room. The only light was on the desk that was placed right opposite to the door. Behind it was a chair, on which a muscular man sat.

"Sawamatsu Yoshiku." addressed Madoka. "We finally meet."

"Indeed." replied the man. "I have heard a lot about you Madoka-san."

"Good things I hope." teased Madoka.

"Depends on what you call good things. They are good things for our business, certainly." answered Yoshiku.

"Thank you then. I hope you know why I am here Yoshiku-san." Madoka got into serious business mode.

"I do. But I don't agree with you. We are perfectly fine on our own. There is absolutely no need for a foreigner to come in." said Yoshiku, a serious and defiant look finding its way to his face.

"Oh, but it's quite profitable around here you know." Madoka said cheerfully.

"It is. And we would like to keep it that way." said Yoshiku seriously.

"Are you implying that I can't run a business properly, and I would cause the entire industry to slump?" asked Madoka dangerously.

"Nothing of the sort." Yoshiku tried to dissolve the situation. "We just like to keep our turf to ourselves."

"If that is the case, I can't say anything else, now can I." said Madoka, the cheerful smile was back on her lips. "Anyway, I actually have a job for you."

"Oh, what kind?" asked Yoshiku leaning forward, his interest clearly caught.

"I want you to have this person assassinated." said Madoka as she pushed forward a picture. "He is a business rival, and I can't have him get something that I can't. He is in Water country currently, so you should have no trouble finding him."

"Oh my. That's a troublesome target you have there." said Yoshiku, looking at the picture. "I will have to do this myself. That will cost you extra."

"I know." said Misaki, before placing a heavy bag on the desk. "That's your advance. You will get the same amount once the job is done."

"That will do just fine." said Yoshiku, opening the bag and checking its contents. "When do you need this done by?"

"As soon as you can." replied Madoka.

* * *

Zabuza had been waiting for a while outside the fortress. He had watched as Madoka walk inside, and he couldn't help but feel uneasy. She knew he was here, and even if he did move positions, he was still at a disadvantage. If Madoka were to tell them that he was here, his mission would be considered a failure, even if he killed Yoshiku, his target.

As he was worrying about his predicament, Zabuza heard the door of the fortress and turned around. He watched as Madoka walked out, being accompanied by Yoshiku himself. They exchanged greetings at the gate, before Misaki turned to leave. She strolled a few meters away when the door finally closed. as soon as the door closed, Madoka faced right where Zabuza was and winked. She then walked away nonchalantly as Zabuza was left questioning his pride as a user of Silent Killing.

Once Zabuza regained his composure, he realized what the wink entailed. A savage grin appeared on his face, understanding that she had just played her hand, and completely made a fool out of him.

'I wonder what she is going to ask as payment for this?' thought Zabuza as he saw Yoshiku leave the fortress, alone.

* * *

Yoshiku moved quickly along the border. He soon found himself in a border town, and quickly mixed in with the crowd. He couldn't shake the feeling that someone was following him. He had made sure that he moved out of the regular routes, and he had also ran at full speed, so if anyone did follow him, he would feel their chakra that they used to keep up. He had felt no chakra signatures. And yet he still had a lingering feeling of someone looking at him. It felt like killing intent, yet it was completely suppressed, such that it didn't seem like one. Frankly this scared him. But he had a mission to accomplish; one which would pay a lot if he succeeded.

He walked amongst the crowd, paying half his attention to the chatter in hopes to pick something important up as he looked for the local information broker. He knew the man personally, so he hoped he could get some reliable information on his target. But he didn't even have to go that far, as there was something quite interesting he caught on the chatter.

"Hey did you know?"

"What is it?"

"There is rumor that The Prince is in town."

"Really? Oh my, that is dangerous you know. If the Prince of the Mafia world suddenly showed up at a small town like this, won't we get completely wiped out?"

"I hear that he is being chased."

"Chased! But by whom?"

"I hear it was the Invisible Princess."

"Invisible Princess? Who is that?"

"You don't know? Man, you are quite behind times aren't you? They say that she's not originally from Kiri. She showed up in the Kiri Mafia World out of nowhere last month and has gone on to take over almost a quarter of the Mafia under her control. And yet, no one has yet to see her face."

"And if she is so good at hiding, how did the news get out?"

"You have the losing side to thank for that. They have been using any means possible to get news out to other groups in an attempt to stop her conquest. So they have been using the regular channel to make it even hard for her, since now the Kiri ninja are after her to stop the disruption in the balance of power."

"So, why would a person like Prince run away from her? I am pretty sure he is known for his stubbornness. There is no way he would let go of his territory."

"I hear he was forced to. She had somehow gained the approval of Prince's inner circle, forcing him out of his own organization. So he did the only thing he could do. He ran."

"So he must want to escape the country if he is here, no?"

"I guess so."

That was information goldmine for Yoshiku. If the Prince was here, he could get his job done much easily. He began moving quickly, scoping out the town, and recalling all the information that he had on The Prince and the town. He soon found out where his target was. He seemed to be holed up in an underground abandoned facility. He quickly reached the building, and found an alternate entrance. He carefully walked in. He didn't waste any time and began exploring the building. He soon arrived at a closed door. He enhanced his senses, and tried to feel out the inside of the room. There was a faint noise from inside, and he quickly moved back, hiding by a corridor. He peered from the edge, and saw a man coming out. He realized that his target was standing in front of him.

He moved quickly, and silenced the man by covering his mouth. Before his mark could struggle he slit his throat. He waited for the struggles of a dying man to reduce to mere twitches before letting him go. The now dead man slumped to the ground. Yoshiku turned the corpse over, and took out the photo in his pocket.

'A perfect match.' He thought. He stood up, and for a fleeting moment, he was paralyzed by the killing intent from behind him. He regained his movement quickly though, as he bent down and vomited blood. He looked down, to find a large sword impaling him from behind. His consciousness was fading, and everything was blurring slowly but surely. Just before he was consumed by the darkness, he heard a male voice from behind him.

"She played all of us very well, didn't she." was the last words Yoshiku heard before his death.

* * *

Madoka was waiting at the gates of the town. She paced about just outside the town, unable to take the suspense. She stopped pacing when she heard some noise in the forest. As she walked over, she felt a chakra signature that she recognized immediately.

"I suppose this means your mission was a success, eh Zabuza-kun." Madoka asked the man that was standing in front of her.

"It was." replied Zabuza. He dropped the body of The Prince in front of Madoka. "I suppose you would want that."

"Why would I want the dead body of a person I don't know." asked Madoka, looking clueless.

"No need to act all innocent, 'Invisible Princess'." said Zabuza.

Madoka's face remained expressionless for a few moments, before bursting into a full blown smile. "Guess you found out, huh?"

"It wasn't that hard to decipher, you know." said Zabuza, shaking his head. "You gave me all the clues yourself."

"It was intentional." replied Madoka. "I wanted to see how long would it take for you to figure it out."

"So… How much is it going to cost me?" asked Zabuza.

"Cost you what?" asked Madoka innocently.

"How much will it cost me to keep you quite about the mission?" asked Zabuza, his patience was running thin.

"Oh! That. All you have to do is be my bodyguard for free when I ask you to." she said.

_Flashback end_

* * *

That was the one and only time that Momochi Zabuza was played for a fool by someone.

* * *

Naruto lay down on the ground, completely tired after the exhausting training that he just went through. He was tired. He felt like he couldn't even move a single muscle, let alone get up. Just as his fatigued mind drifted into a slumber, he heard a voice reverberate through him.

**"So you did it again, brat." **The voice belonged to Kyuubi, the nine tailed demon fox that resided inside Naruto.

'Ah. Kyuubi, I need a little help here.' said Naruto.

**"Tch. Can't even call on your devil powers without my help, can you?" **grumbled Kyuubi as he slowly released a bit of his chakra into Naruto's chakra system. Naruto was soon revitalized, and few strands of orange chakra began leaking from him. He quickly reined the extra chakra in, and suddenly a large mass of dark energy released quickly before wrapping around him, resulting into an aura to appear around him. He concentrated, resulting into the aura's color to change to orange. He breathed in and out, and the aura slowly dissipated.

'Damn, that's hard.' complained Naruto in his mind. 'Trying to control two different types of energy that didn't belong to me originally is extremely hard, you know.'

**"That's just because you don't try. If you tried hard enough, you could release at least my chakra by yourself, without having me to 'open the tap' as it were every single time."** Kyuubi continued to gripe about indignantly.

'Oh come on. Give me a break. You know that the training that I got from that old man was only enough to call upon my power in near death state. Even he was skeptical that if I could even tap into my devil powers on my own in one human lifetime.' huffed Naruto.

**"Yeah, that's true. To be fair, if you can't do something after that guy's training, you most probably can't do it in the first place." **muttered Kyuubi.

Naruto sat down and took a meditative pose as he began reminiscing his first meeting with a Maou, Ajuka Beelzebub.

* * *

_Flashback_

"Hello, Uzumaki Naruto. My name is Ajuka Beelzebub. We need to talk."

A handsome young man stood at Naruto's doorsteps as Naruto gaped at the sudden arrival of a stranger at his house. He could hear the Kyuubi cussing up a storm at the back of his mind.

**"What the fuck! I thought I killed that fucking bastard." **roared Kyuubi.

'I guess it's much harder to kill devils.' thought Naruto. He said out loud, "What do you need to talk about?"

"It's about your current 'condition'." said Ajuka. "May I come in?" Naruto stepped aside as Ajuka walked inside his apartment. Naruto looked on apprehensively as Ajuka observed the surrounding for a few seconds, before locating a chair. He pulled it up to the dining table and sat down, before motioning Naruto to the seat across him. Naruto took the seat, before looking expectantly at Ajuka.

"I believe your furry friend has already explained to you the pros and cons of being a devil." began Ajuka. Naruto nodded in agreement, so Ajuka continued. "But he didn't tell you everything. Or rather, he couldn't tell you everything, since he himself doesn't know everything." Ajuka paused there. He looked seriously at Naruto, before beginning to explain what Kyuubi could not.

"You see, the only reason you could reincarnate into a devil is because of Kyuubi's influence. To be fair, he pretty much bypassed the regular system of reincarnation. Normally, you would use evil pieces for the reincarnation purpose, thus allowing only devils with peerage to reincarnate others. Since none of these were included in your reincarnation procedure, you are pretty much an anomaly in the system. The other devils would want to get rid of such an irregularity as soon as they can."

At this Naruto visibly stiffened. But Ajuka smiled gently at him. "You do not need to worry. I am not like those devils. To be fair, I find you fascinating. Since I was the one who build the reincarnation system, I would like to observe the inconsistency in the method created due to you."

Naruto relaxed slightly at the assurance provided by Ajuka. He wasn't completely assured though. The observing part still had him unnerved.

"Relax. I am not going to turn you into a lab rat. All I would do is observe your growth on regular basis, nothing too hard." Ajuka said cheerfully. He quickly changed mood to serious, as he said, "however, because of the glitch, you reincarnated as a stray devil."

"Huh?" Naruto didn't understand what Ajuka was talking about. He looked quizzically at Ajuka, who took it as his que and began explaining.

"Stray devils are those who do not belong to any group or peerage. They have abandoned their master, and usually use devious means to remain alive. The regular job of a devil usually entails killing these stray devils." Naruto paled again.

"There is usually no way to stop being a stray devil. But considering your unique situation, the four Maou have decided to give you a way out. You are being given two choices; to become part of someone's group, or get your own group."

Color returned to Naruto's face once he realized that he still had a chance. As he pondered his choices, he realized he still didn't understand what being in a group entailed. He looked up and asked Ajuka, "What is a group anyway?"

"Ah. Basically a group is just a group of devils who work together. They have a master, who orders them to do his bidding. But the main attraction is taking part in the Rating Games. Rating Games are basically battles against other groups. As you win you increase your popularity as a devil. The more you win the more facilities you get from the devils."

"Is that so?" Naruto began thinking. So either way, he was going to have to become a part of a group. That meant whatever he did, it will only be good for him. Especially because it can also ensure his survival. Now, he needed to decide. Join a group or make one of his own? If he joined one, he'd have a master who will order him around. If he made one, he would be the master of the group… Why did they even bother to give him a choice?

"I'll make my own group." answered Naruto with conviction. For a fleeting moment, an evil grin passed through Ajuka's face. "I thought you would say that." he said, before activating and manipulating a magic circle. A light engulfed both him and Naruto.

Naruto was partly blinded by the light. As he slowly regained his vision, he found himself in a vast white place. He could see the horizon on all four sides, and it was all white. He saw Ajuka standing right in front of him, holding some sort of device.

"Where are we?" asked Naruto.

"We are inside a different dimension." answered Ajuka.

"Why are we here?"

"Because you need to prove yourself worthy of a peerage." replied Ajuka.

"Peerage? But I thought I am going to become a master?" asked a doubtful Naruto.

"Didn't I tell you? To be able to start a group, you need to have a peerage." answered Ajuka, a devilish smirk appeared on his face, as he clicked the button on the device in his hand. Naruto paled.

"Gyaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!" Naruto's scream reverberated through the entire dimension.

_Flashback End_

* * *

"Ugh." Naruto shivered involuntarily. "That was the worst kind of training I ever had."

**"And yet, it was the best training you ever had, too."** quipped Kyuubi.

'Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Now shut up and let me meditate.'

* * *

_Sasuke was walking through the Uchiha compound. There was no sign of anyone around. It was completely silent. Sasuke hated that silence. He picked up pace, and he was soon running. He soon arrived at his house. He quickly ran inside, and found a lot of blood; his parents lying amongst the ground. There was a sound behind him. He whirled around, only to come face to face with his brother Itachi. He was relieved. But only for a moment; until he saw the blood on his hand._

_Itachi's sharingan spun, and revealed a new pattern, one that Sasuke was unfamiliar with. Before he could do anything, he was pulled into a different dimension. Itachi stood before him._

_"You are weak, brother." said Itachi, as he began showing Sasuke the images of the massacre of the Uchiha clan that had only just occurred. "If you wish to become as strong as me, then hate me. And kill your closest friend."_

"Gah!" Sasuke woke up with a start. He was panting really hard, and was completely drenched in his sweat. He shakily got to his feet, and unsteadily walked towards the washroom. Once inside, he splashed his face with the cold water from the tap, rendering him awake.

"That dream again…" he wondered out loud as he came out to the corridor.

"What dream?" asked a voice, startling Sasuke. He turned around to find Misaki walking up to him. Sasuke controlled his breathing, before looking questioningly at Misaki.

"Hm… Oh. I had the graveyard shift, remember?" said Misaki.

"Ah. Guard duty." said Sasuke in comprehension.

"So… what dream were you talking about?" asked Misaki again.

Sasuke didn't reply for a while. He stood there silently for a few seconds, as if he had never heard the question. But he had heard the question. He opened his mouth after the silence, and almost whispered. "I dreamed about 'that night'."

"Ah…" an awkward silence filled the corridor, as the two of them just stood there. After several more seconds of silence, it was Sasuke again who broke it.

"Where is Naruto?" he asked, trying to change the topic. "I didn't see him in the room."

"Ah, Naruto never came back from training." replied Misaki, looking relieved that they managed to change the topic.

"Never came back?" asked an incredulous Sasuke. "And why did no one go look for him?"

"Oh I did." answered Misaki, a hint of anger in her voice, "He sent me back, saying that he didn't need my help. Can you believe the gall of the brat, refusing to come back when we are in the middle of a mission? And Kakashi-sensei approved it. That just took the cake."

As Misaki fumed over Naruto's attitude, the Uchiha cousins began walking, with Misaki at the front and Sasuke following. They reached a balcony soon. As they stood there, they could see the forest at the back of the house, and a light mist loomed over the area. It had only been a day since Zabuza had attacked them. They had managed to fend him of, which was an achievement in itself. After that they had quickly retreated to Tazuna's house, where after a short meeting, they decided that Zabuza was not dead and still out large.

After that they had split the guard duty amongst themselves, and on their spare time decided to train, since it would take Zabuza over a week to recover from the deathlike state that they had seen him in last. Sasuke was already pretty exhausted from the fight they had, so he picked sleep on the first day. Naruto, on the other hand picked training. It wasn't really shocking though. He was a ball of energy, Naruto was. Even an engaging fight as that one hadn't been taxing on him physically. But it must have affected him mentally, because he jumped right at the opportunity of training. Even if it was a solo one.

As they stood on the balcony looking over the forest, silence was the only thing they could sense.

"I thought you said he was training." asked Sasuke.

"He was when I last checked on him." replied Misaki. "He must have fallen asleep. We should go get him." she said, before jumping off and landing lithely on the ground. Sasuke followed her, albeit not as gracefully, but as silently as her. They took of quickly with Misaki leading the way.

It didn't take long to find Naruto though. They arrived at the clearing where he was training and found him meditating.

"I didn't know that Naruto could meditate." said a shocked Sasuke.

"He can't." replied Misaki. One could detect the mirth in her voice. "He fell asleep while trying."

"Oh." said Sasuke. "Why was he trying anyway?"

"How would I know?" said Misaki.

"Should we wake him?" asked Sasuke.

"Why?" replied Misaki, a devilish smirk on her lips.

"Uh… Sorry. I got nothing." replied Sasuke.

"Let's let him sleep. It would be bad if he actually managed to exhaust himself." she said. And with that, she laid down on the ground.

Sasuke stood there, baffled at Misaki's actions. "Shouldn't you go back to your guard duty?" he asked her.

"I woke up Kakashi-sensei before coming here." she replied. She then turned her head at Sasuke, and motioned at him. After considering for a few moments, Sasuke took the invitation and sat down beside Misaki.

Silence engulfed them as they wordlessly watched the night sky, whatever that could be seen of course. Misaki was the first one to break the silence this time around.

"So… do you want to talk about it?"

"…." Sasuke didn't reply. He rued his choice of sitting down. She had brought back the topic, something he wanted to escape.

"You don't… huh. It'd do you no good to hold it in you know." she chided him.

"What would you know!" exploded Sasuke, unable to hold in his anger. "_You_ did not have to watch the entire clan's massacre over and over again, did you?! How did you even survive that day? Don't think I'll believe your silly story about hiding. There is no way you could have hid from Itachi! So tell me. How. Did. You. Survive?"

"Oh my. I guess you finally asked, huh." said Misaki, as she looked at Sasuke with one half-lidded eye. "I suppose it shouldn't hurt to tell you how I survived, don't you agree Naruto?" Sasuke whipped his head around, to find Naruto facing them, still in his meditation pose. However, he had his eyes open, and he looked at Sasuke with an amused grin on his face. "No, it wouldn't. And he will find out eventually, so sooner the better." Naruto answered Misaki's question.

Misaki smiled at Naruto's reply. She stood up, before facing away from Sasuke.

"You were right. I couldn't hide from Itachi. He found me very quickly. There was nothing I could do as I watched him impale me with his sword. I could only lie there as the blood oozed out of my wound, as my consciousness grew dimmer. You see Sasuke, I didn't survive that day. I died." Misaki's face was grim.

"But that is impossible!" shouted an enraged Sasuke. "You are standing right in front of me. You are not dead!"

"You have Naruto to thank for that. He 'saved' me… no wait. 'Save' is not the right word; he 'resurrected' me into a devil.' Misaki turned around as black bat-like wings sprouted from her back.

* * *

Sasuke was stunned. The wings that grew from Misaki's back were fascinating. As he turned his head, he saw Naruto also mimicking Misaki, with wings growing out of his back too. He couldn't wrap his head around the information that was presented before him.

"You… What…. How… But… " Sasuke sputtered indignantly.

"Basically what happened," Naruto spoke, "was that I had met Misaki the day before. We hit it off pretty well. She invited me to her house that day. Once I got there, the entire clan had already been killed. It took me quite a while to find her. Once I did, I used my powers to reincarnate her."

It took a while to for Sasuke to grasp what had just been told. Once he did, Naruto found himself pinned to a tree by Sasuke.

"You can resurrect people?" asked Sasuke vehemently.

"Somewhat." replied Naruto.

"Can you bring back my mother and father?" asked Sasuke.

Naruto looked at Sasuke silently for a few moments before answering. "No, Sasuke. I cannot. It has been way too long to bring them back."

"Is that so…" Sasuke looked visibly downcast as he let Naruto go.

"But I can help you get your revenge, that I can assure you." said Naruto. "If you want, you can get as much power as Misaki."

Sasuke's eyes shone at the words. "Really? What's the catch?"

"Ah, well. You'd lose your freedom and your humanity. You will become a devil. Just like Misaki and me." answered Naruto.

Sasuke was demoralized immediately. "I don't need that kind of power." He said as he began walking away.

"Well it's your choice." Naruto said from behind him. "The offer will stay on the table, if you change your mind."

Sasuke turned his head to look back at him, before he walked away.

"Do you think he will reconsider?" asked Misaki.

"It's up to him to decide." answered Naruto. "It depends on how badly he wants the power."

* * *

Zabuza was still lying down. He had managed to get the movements of his arms back, but that's about it. Haku waited upon him, providing him with everything that he needed. Zabuza was wondering about the letter that he had gotten from Madoka.

'She must be planning something big if she gave me a free pass. She must really want an unpredictable vector in the equation. I can still remember her work in Kiri. Ah those were the days.'

* * *

_Flashback_

Zabuza had been brought into the Seven Swordsman a few years ago. He had joined almost immediately after that stupid mission to kill Yoshiku. He had been called several times since then to guard Madoka. In fact, most of the time, he was given some sort of compensation, making those stints not exactly free. Of course, there were times when they were free. To be fair, those were mostly him acting as physical labor and carrying all the shopping bags Madoka gave him. He could even pass it off as training. The harder ones always had some sort of pay involved.

Since then, he had risen to the opportunity, and had improved on his reputation of a Demon, especially due to his status as one of the Seven Swordsmen of Kiri. He happened to be one of the most cruel and vicious Swordsmen, eclipsed only by Hoshigake Kisame. During this time, Kiri's military might grew, and it continued to pile on its dark reputation. But the people during this time weren't happy. Because of heavy spending on the military might, Kiri's economy suffered, even with Madoka working in the background trying to fix it. According to her, it's no use having a mafia if the country's economy fell into a recession.

So, as the economy suffered, the people became discontented. There were several small acts of rebellion that kept on happening throughout the Land of Water. Then came the Bloodline Purges. The Mizukage sought to oppress the rebellions, and according to him, they were being headed by several bloodline users. And to snip it from the roots, he began killing all the bloodline users. That was the tipping point, as the entire Kiri began rallying against the Mizukage. Zabuza was no exception.

The Mizukage had gone too far this time, and while this was a military rule, once the ruler becomes tyrannical, it becomes the job of the people to stand up to him and throw him down. And Zabuza took it as his duty to take down the power drunk Mizukage. If he could get a few good battles on the way he wasn't going to complain.

But as he rallied his supporters against the Mizukage, he found resistance in a form that he didn't expect.

"Zabuza." Madoka called from behind him as he was about to charge the Mizukage Tower.

"What do you want? I am in the middle of a rebellion here." replied an annoyed Zabuza.

"Don't go! You will only get yourself killed." shouted Madoka.

"What the hell?! Don't you have any trust in my power woman?" Zabuza shouted back.

"That is not the point. In fact I'm not even worried about whether you can beat Yagura or not. But he isn't the real enemy here." replied Madoka.

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Zabuza.

"I have been trying to run things from behind the curtains, but there seems to be someone who is even better than me at pulling strings. He managed to bring Yagura under his control, and that is why you saw all the Bloodline Purges. I only managed to postpone them as far as you saw, which was not much. There is no way you can stand up to someone who has the power to control someone like Yagura. So stop this nonsense." pleaded Madoka.

"I won't stop. I can't stop. Not after coming so far. I can't betray the trust of my comrades." answered Zabuza.

"Fine. Do what you want. I am not going to pull your ass out of this. If you fail, then you will have to run. Not just from Yagura, but from me. Because you are betraying me." One could almost see the tears that welled up on the corner of Madoka's eyes as she turned around and fled the scene.

Needless to say, Zabuza failed in his attempted coup and has been on the run since then.

_Flashback end_

* * *

Zabuza was brought back from his thoughts as the door to the room opened to show Gatou standing there with a few of his goons.

"Well well well, what do you know? Momochi Zabuza, the Demon of the Bloody Mist, beaten by just a group of green genin." taunted Gatou.

"You should know that they weren't any green genin. They had two Uchiha. Surely even you know the reputation that the Uchiha have." replied Zabuza.

"Indeed I do. But they shouldn't be any problem for the great Zabuza should it. You sound like you are trying to give excuses."

"I do not need excuses. The next time I go after them will be the last moments of their lives."

"I hope that's the case, or else…" Gatou trailed off as he turned around to leave.

"Just so you know." Zabuza called from behind. "One of the genin is an associate of Kurokami Madoka."

Gatou whipped his head around, fear written clearly on his face as he looked incredulously at Zabuza. Seeing that Zabuza's eyes didn't betray any emotions, he was even more scared. He hurriedly turned around and left the room, followed closely by his train of goons.

"By the way, Haku. There was absolutely no need the get your needles ready." scolded Zabuza merrily.

"It's not a problem." replied Haku. I will always protect Zabuza-san."

* * *

**Omake**

**Andrew: Yay, I got 100 favorites. Banzai!**

**Naruto: And yet your chapter is at least a week late.**

**Andrew: Couldn't be helped. I had too many things on my plate to even sit down and write. As compensation, I am giving you guys a 7000 word chapter.**

**Naruto: Which has absolutely nothing to do with the story.**

**Andrew: Hey! It has everything to do with the story. It explains all those small things that weren't explained and has quite a few flashbacks too.**

**Naruto: It does, doesn't it? But what about the people who were going to show up in the Omake.**

**Andrew: Oh, that's right. We are going to start this with the next chapter. I call this "Questions with your favorite character". We are going to start it off with Haku.**

**Naruto: So, how is it gonna work?**

**Andrew: Basically the readers will ask questions to Haku through reviews and Haku is going to answer them. The questions can be anything related to Haku. Of course questions related to the story will be answered by yours truly.**

**Naruto: Huh. And what about deciding who comes to the show next time?**

**Andrew: Again, it will be the readers who decide. Of course I would prefer if they chose from Misaki, Madoka or Zabuza, but anyone else should be fine too.**

**Naruto: Is that so?**

**Andrew: Yep, anyway moving on. Let's do our regular section.**

**Naruto: Ugh. Fine.**

** Next Time on Blonde Haired Devil**

** Zabuza finally attacks the three genin, and will Naruto do the mission that Madoka gave him?**

** Find out Next Time on Blonde Haired Devil**

** (I swear to god if I have to do this one more time I am going to quit.)**


	10. Second Meetings

**Chapter 9:Second Meetings  
**

"Hello." talking

'Hello.' thinking

**"Hello."** Kyuubi talking

**'Hello.' **Kyuubi thinking

*Knock* Sound effects

**"Bunshin no Jutsu" **Jutsu

* * *

"Haaaaaaaah." a long sigh escaped the lips of an exhausted Naruto, who was sprawling on the ground spread eagle from the tiredness. "I ended up overworking after all."

**"Well of course you did. Since you so kindly ignored me telling you that you are about to run out of juice." **complained Kyuubi.

'Yeah… sorry about that.' apologized Naruto. He tried to stifle a yawn, but considering his hands weren't of much use, it was a wasted effort. 'The grass feels so good… I think I'll take a nap…'

**"You do realize that someone is in the vicinity." **asked Kyuubi.

'Exactly.' replied Naruto.

As Naruto lay there motionlessly, a figure slowly approached Naruto. The figure froze when Naruto stirred.

"Huh? Who's there?" asked Naruto, startling the stranger, who showed great restraint to contain the shock.

"Ah. Did I wake you up?" asked the stranger. "Sorry about that. I was just gathering some herbs for my friend. My name is Haku. But don't mind me, why are you sleeping so deep into the forest?"

"Ah, about that." Naruto chuckled nervously. "I sort of exhausted myself while training, so I can't really get up."

"Really? What were you training for?" asked Haku.

"Ah, you see. I am a ninja. I am on a mission to protect someone. In order to do so, I need to be strong. Hence the training." answered Naruto cheerfully.

**"Oi, stop giving away your mission details." **'Shut up.'

"Is that so… if you have someone to protect, then you will get strong. No, maybe you are already strong, because you have others to protect." said Haku.

"Which is why it would be unwise of you to take out the senbons you are currently holding." said Naruto with a glint in his eyes.

Haku was startled. He quickly tried to retreat, but bright flash of light shone from underneath his feet. Once the light subsided, a complex pattern appeared below his feet, and Haku found out that he couldn't move his feet.

"Oh! It worked." exclaimed a surprised Naruto as Haku tugged at his feet, unable to break free of the ground.

"What the hell is this?" asked Haku frantically.

"Ah, that my friend, is a barrier seal." said Naruto as he pointed at the feet of Haku. "It blocks the movements of a person. And since I mixed a bit of immobility magic with it, the result was that you are now stuck inside that circle. So now we can talk nicely, right hunter-san?"

Haku panicked. Not only had the boy manage to find out his attempt of attack, he had also figured out about his act as a hunter-nin. He tried to calm his nerves by taking a few deep breaths. Once he finally cooled down, he did what he thought was the most prudent line of action.

"What are you talking about?" asked Haku with an innocent look on his face.

"You do realize that your reaction was so late that it's quite obvious that you are feigning ignorance." Naruto deadpanned as he pulled himself to his feet.

Haku tugged a few more times, before giving up on the attempts to free himself. "Fine then." He said seriously. "What do you want?"

"Nothing much." Naruto said as he grinned. "Did Zabuza get the message I planted on him?"

"He did." answered Haku, on guard for any form of trickery.

"Oh good. Did he say anything?" asked Naruto.

"No. And even if he did, why should I tell you?" asked Haku, his patience running thin.

"Hmmm…. No reason, I suppose." answered Naruto, causing Haku to almost face fault, except he couldn't, since his feet were stuck on the ground.

"What are you going to do to me?" asked Haku apprehensively.

"Oh don't worry. I won't do anything. It goes against my policy to harm beautiful girls." answered Naruto cheerfully.

"Is that so? I hate to break it to you, but I am a boy." said Haku. He immediately regretted the decision however when a cheshire cat grin appeared on Naruto's face.

"You're lying." said Naruto in a singsong voice. He slowly approached Haku, who tried to step back, but couldn't. Haku fell on her butt when she tried to lean back a bit too much. Naruto pulled his face close to her face and whispered, "I can smell the pheromones coming from you."

Haku's face reddened at the close proximity of Naruto's face and the words he spoke to her. In fact, one could see steam rising from her head. Naruto took a step back and grinned at the flustered Haku.

**"Did you have to do that?" **grumbled Kyuubi.

'Oh come one, lighten up a bit. Look at how cute she looks. Don't you want to play a prank on her?' thought Naruto.

**"Of course not. If anything, I would want to kill her, but that's another story altogether. Why is it that my host happened to be Konoha's greatest prankster of all time?" **wondered Kyuubi.

'At least I am not trying to be the 'Oppai Fox' or something.' retorted Naruto.

* * *

Somewhere in Kuou Academy, Hyoudou Issei sneezed.

* * *

**"You're right. I should be happy about that."** agreed Kyuubi.

Haku finally regained her composure as Naruto had an inner squabble with Kyuubi. "Fine. You are right. I am a girl. But you should understand why a kunoichi on the run might want to hide her gender from a stranger." mumbled Haku, her cheeks still slightly pink.

"Yeah, I understand perfectly well… wait, did you call me a stranger? And here I thought we were making headways into breaking the ice." Naruto pouted.

"Tch. I can't decide whether I should be afraid of you because you caught me, or should I be angry at you for behaving like that." grumbled Haku.

"How about you just pass on my message to Zabuza and we can forget we ever met." offered Naruto.

"Fine. What's the message?"

"Tell him, that if he ever feels that he wants to change employers, he should come find me. I can provide him jobs on the same level as the woman he knows."

* * *

"So you're finally back." Kakashi asked Naruto, who had just entered the house.

"Yeah." replied Naruto as he stood at the doorway. He scanned the room, his gaze starting from Kakashi who was sitting down at the table, and moved over to Sasuke, who was sitting beside him. He then noticed Tazuna sitting at the other end of the table, wallowing in his sake. Then there was Tsunami, Tazuna's daughter, who was making breakfast in the kitchen. His gaze finally stopped on Misaki, who was helping Tsunami.

"So, did your solo training help?" asked Kakashi nonchalantly.

"Yes. I succeeded in what I wanted to do." answered Naruto as he took a seat at the table. Tsunami came over and served the breakfast. Naruto picked a pair of chopsticks and dug in.

"That's good." said Kakashi, as he picked up a pair of chopsticks with one hand, while his other hand contained the famed orange book. "We are going to start with some team training today."

"Really?" asked Misaki, who was taking her own seat at the table. "What are going to be learning?"

"Oh you'll find out soon enough." said Kakashi with an eye smile. It was at this point that a young boy decided to make his presence known. It was Tazuna's grandson, Inari. He had walked into the room during the conversation, and had decided that he had something to say.

"It wouldn't do you any good to train." muttered Inari.

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Naruto.

"No matter how hard you train, you can never defeat someone like Gatou." said Inari, "You will only get yourself killed."

"Don't underestimate us, brat." It was Sasuke who spoke, quite uncharacteristically. "We are not weak."

"That doesn't matter." Inari's voice had risen to a shout. "There are no such things as heroes. You who have never seen sadness or misfortune will never understand the power of people like Gatou."

A chill ran through the room as all three members of Team Seven stopped midway while eating. The three looked downwards, a black aura radiating from them. An awkward silence reigned as Kakashi thought whether he should do anything. The first one to react was Misaki, who simply got up and walked away, muttering a low "Gochisosama". She was followed by Naruto, who simply stood up, glared menacingly at Inari, who was visibly shaken up at the open act of animosity, before turning around and walking away. The last to react was Sasuke, who glared at the kid, before speaking, "You just made your worst mistake in your life, brat." And with that, Sasuke also left.

"What's up with them?" asked Inari, who was finally able to breathe properly after the people with the oppressing atmosphere left, giving him his courage back. "Can't they even deal with the truth?" But with such explosive words, he managed to drop the room temperature again. This time it was Kakashi who was irritated by the boy. He was giving an eye-smile, but a menacing aura seemed to surround him, making him scaring than the previous three.

"You see Inari-san," spoke Kakashi, his failed attempts at keeping his tone polite very noticeable. "You just told three people with no alive relatives and with records of assassination attempts that they have never been unfortunate or sad."

"Wha... What's that supposed to mean?" asked Inari almost hysterically. His apparent uneasiness made Kakashi remember he was dealing with an emotionally scarred kid, and reigned in his animosity. Kakashi began explaining his words, for the benefit of the three non shinobi present.

"You see, Sasuke and Misaki are cousins. They are the last remaining survivors of the Uchiha clan. I'm pretty sure you have heard of their massacre? They were present that day. They watched their entire family getting killed, and couldn't do a thing about it. It's a miracle that they even survived. So they know a thing or two about misfortune and sadness. And Naruto... Well were shall I begin. Orphaned at birth, scorned by the villagers, assassination attempts for no apparent reasons, no money during his early life for food or shelter, that's what Naruto's childhood was about."

"Huh... But they don't look like anything happened to them. I mean, they are so calm and positive." wondered Inari.

"That's because they chose to look into the future rather than live in the past." said Kakashi as he got up from the table. "You have your own reasons for thinking like this, but I suggest you apologize to them. Or else you might end up being the target of Wave's greatest prank ever." And with that Kakashi left the room, looking for his students.

Inari looked at the back of Kakashi as he left the room, dumbstruck by the words that had just been said. He managed to regain composure quickly, and ran back to his own room. Tsunami looked at the direction of Inari for a while, before turning back to the table, to find all the plates empty. "Heeeh! What happened to the food?" she asked Tazuna.

"I think Kakashi-san took them with him for the benefit of his students." replied Tazuna. "He is a shinobi after all, so it shouldn't be surprising that you didn't see him take the food."

'Shinobi are so fast.' thought Tsunami as she cleaned up the empty dishes.

* * *

It didn't take Kakashi long to find the three of his students, especially because they were all gathered up together in the clearing that they had picked for training. Surprisingly, Inari had managed to get all three of them brooding, each having picked a tree sat on its roots. Just before he approached the three, he was startled by Naruto jumping up and shouting.

"Gaaah! It's no use thinking about those stuff." roared Naruto, startling the other two out of their thoughts. Sasuke looked incredulously at Naruto, surprised by his bipolar behavior. Misaki, who knew Naruto for a longer period of time, wasn't surprised at Naruto's bipolar nature, but rather at the fact that it took this long for his bipolar behavior to kick in. She stood up, before quietly sneaking behind Naruto. She then grabbed his head and puled him into a headlock.

"Realize that earlier, you idiot." she scolded him as he tried to pry of the headlock, unsuccessfully of course. Kakashi thought it to be a good time to let his presence be known. He walked into the clearing , holding the food up with one hand.

"Now that that's cleared up, how about some food." said Kakashi, causing all three of them to turn towards him. They were surprised that they never sensed him standing there all this time. Before they could say anything however, their stomachs decided to let their presence known, as they groaned in hunger at the same time. The three looked at each others face, before quickly sitting down in a row, eagerly waiting for Kakashi to hand over the food.

* * *

"So, what are we going to learn today?" asked Naruto while stuffing his face with the food that Kakashi brought.

"Since we already covered the tree climbing exercise while we were in Konoha, I believe its time we moved on to the next level." said Kakashi, his gaze never leaving his famous orange book.

"And...?" asked Misaki expectantly.

Kakashi didn't answer for a few moments, before snapping his book shut. "We are going to start with water walking." he said, causing his students to face fault.

"Oh come on." groaned Naruto, "How about you teach us some cool moves instead of all these boring exercises?"

"These boring exercises might just save your life one day." chided Kakashi. "Plus they help you in your chakra control, without which you have no hope of learning those cool moves that you so desperately want. And when was walking on water not cool?"

"From the moment it became part of training." retorted Naruto.

"Moving on." said Kakashi, seemingly ignoring Naruto. "We will start once you finish eating."

* * *

"So... what do we do?" asked Naruto.

The three were currently at a beach, the sea stretching out into the horizon. The bridge that Tazuna was building could be seen west of the trio. They were accompanied by Kakashi, who had his book out.

"What you have to do is simple, really. In tree climbing, you had to release a constant amount of chakra in order to stick to the tree trunk. For water walking, all you need to do is regulate the amount of chakra required depending on the the water, which changes constantly. This exercise will help you in releasing different amounts of chakra in short intervals, and also help you in your chakra control." explained Kakashi.

"And...?" asked Misaki, not really convinced by the explanation.

"And now, you will begin the exercise." said Kakashi, giving the three of them an eye smile. "Your goal will be to reach the bridge by walking on water. If you can do that, then you will pass this exercise. I'll be waiting for you at the bridge." And with that, Kakashi walked away from the three leaving them to their own devices.

"And here I thought we would finally get some jutsu training." grumbled Naruto, before slowly stepping out into the sea. He took three steps before...

*splash*

... he fell head first into the sea water.

"Heh, dobe." muttered Sasuke, loud enough for Naruto to hear.

"Shut up you bastard. If you think you are so much better, why don't you try and walk on water?" shouted Naruto, who was drenched from head to toe.

"I think I will." said Sasuke. He walked out into the sea with a superior smirk on his face. He took four steps and was about to turn around to gloat when...

*splash*

... he fell into the water as well.

"Ha ha." laughed Naruto, and doubled up and fell on his back, but considering he was still in the sea, he fell back into the sea. This caused even Sasuke to chuckle slightly.

"Oi." Misaki shout brought the two of them back to the task at hand, as they realized her voice sounded further away than it should have been. They turned around to find her at least fifteen meters away from them. "How long are you two going to just sit there in the sea and laugh like idiots? We have to finish this quickly."

Misaki's words got the two boys scrambling back to their feet. This time they took a running start, resulting in getting close to Misaki before...

*splash*

... they both lost control and fell into the sea right at Misaki's feet. This caused a big wave, and although Misaki didn't lose control, she found herself completely drenched.

"You... you..." Misaki was rendered speechless by her anger. "You idiots!" she shouted, as Naruto and Sasuke both thought it prudent to make a run for it. Now while most people would run for the land, they couldn't as they had managed to get Misaki between themselves and the land, so they ran straight for the bridge.

"Come back here you morons!" she exclaimed as she ran after her two hightailing team mates.

* * *

The two boys panted heavily as water dripped down from their entire body. They were currently on top of the bridge, standing right in front of Kakashi. They had ran all the way to the bridge, but having lost their control several times, had fallen into the water. They were exhausted too, having run from a completely murderous Misaki. In fact the only reason they haven't yet been beaten up is because...

"Let go of me, Kakashi-sensei. I'm gonna kill these two idiots."

... was because Kakashi had grabbed hold of Misaki the moment he noticed the boys being chased by her. Now he was holding Misaki up at an arms length, who was also completely drenched, having lost concentration several times due to her anger. It's what allowed the boys to escape in the first place. Now she was flailing about in Kakashi hands, unable to break free of his grip.

"Now, now Misaki." chided Kakashi. "Their is no need to be angry at them. Look at the bright side. You managed to finish the task I set to you in a day. It is quite an impressive feat."

"Hmph." huffed Misaki, crossing her arms and looking away, still airborne.

"However, looking at your clothes, I can safely assume that you didn't master water walking." said Kakashi, and for a fleeting moment Sasuke had a bad premonition. "So your next task is to run back to Tazuna's house and get a change of clothes."

These words caused Sasuke to relax. Bad choice.

"By the way. You must run back, by the sea." said Kakashi, choosing the precise moment to release Misaki. Misaki didn't notice it at first. In fact the only reason she did notice it was because Naruto's eyes bulged before he took a few steps back. Once Misaki did realize that she had been released, an evil grin appeared on her lips. She took a step forward, and this time both the boys turned and ran, with Misaki right on their tail.

"We'll get you back for this Kakashi-sensei." came the unified shout from the two boys as Kakashi returned his gaze to his precious book.

* * *

Naruto laid spread eagle on the floor of the room he and Sasuke were sharing. Sasuke was laying face down on the bed. Both of them had been completely wiped by the day's training and the subsequent running-away-from-Misaki-for-their-lives that followed after that. They had somehow managed to get her to calm down after a grueling hour of playing cat and mice (they were the mice, mind you).

"Remind me to never anger Misaki." groaned Sasuke.

"If you promise to do the same for me." replied Naruto.

"Ah. Sure." promised Sasuke.

Silence engulfed the two as they recuperated their strength. The silence was broken by Misaki, who called out from downstairs.

"Sasuke! Naruto! Come down and get your dinner." As if on cue, the duos stomach groaned loudly, letting them know of their hunger.

"Coming." Replied the two in unison, before pulling themselves off their seats and going downstairs. As they stepped out of their room, they bumped into Inari. Inari looked at them fearfully at first, remembering that Sasuke had promised him of some evil end. Then he seemed to remember something, and spoke.

"I'm sorry." Inari mumbled.

"Huh?" Naruto looked quizzically at the kid.

"I said I'm sorry." Inari said, a bit more audibly. "I said things about you without actually knowing you. So I am sorry."

"It's fine. You had your own reasons I'm sure." said Naruto as he ruffled Inari's hair.

"That doesn't mean you can beat Gatou though." said Inari, quickly moving out of range of the punch that Naruto threw. He quickly ran a few steps down the stairs, before turning around and sticking his tongue out.

"Tch. Annoying brat." muttered Sasuke as he followed a running Naruto down the stairs.

* * *

It had been a week since their water walking training. Sasuke and Naruto had been missing for three days already after saying they were going for training (separately of course). Not that anyone was worried, (except for Tazuna and Tsunami) since both had records of disappearing for periods of time for training. They always came back, so it wasn't really anything new. Plus they had their communicators on them, so if they were needed, they would be easily found.

Misaki was currently escorting Tazuna to the local market to get some supplies. As they walked through the village, Misaki was taken aback by the state that it was in. Several building had fallen out of repairs, some didn't even look usable, and yet there were people who lived or worked in those buildings. The shops also were pretty ragged, and there were plenty of kids on the street that made the word malnutrition seem like an understatement.

"Why...?" Misaki said, unable to stomach the poor state the main village of the country was in.

"It has been like that since Gatou took control of the sea routes. The amount of money he extorted out of the people was so much that the entire country's economy was destroyed. As long as we can't complete the bridge, this country will continue to fall into ruins." said Tazuna, with a grave but determined look on his face.

Misaki looked around again, before deciding something. "Don't worry old man. We are going to protect you with our lives. So finish your bridge."

"Ha hah! I'm counting on you then." said Tazuna.

* * *

Sasuke and Naruto had returned on the same day. In fact they came home together, with Sasuke carrying an unconcious Naruto. From Sasuke's words, they had trainied separately. Once Sasuke was finished with his training, he headed back for the house. On his way he found Naruto, who had tired himself out to sleep. So he had simply picked Naruto up and continued on. The day after, Sasuke and Misaki both joined Kakashi on his guard duty, leaving Naruto at the house sleeping.

"..." Naruto turned around in his sleep.

"Hey brat..." He turned to the other side.

"If you don't..." Naruto covered his head with his pillow, before sitting up.

"What the hell is going on?" wondered Naruto out loud.

**"Well, your employers family is getting attacked, that's what's going on." **the Kyuubi answered for his convenience.

"My employers... The hell! Shouldn't you tell that to me sooner." grumbled Naruto as he jumped out of the window, and luckily landing on a samurai that was holding Inari. As he turned around the other samurai pulled a sword and slashed at him. Naruto deftly moved out the way of the attack, before landing a sidekick straight to the gut, causing his assailant to faint.

"Ah Naruto-kun, I.." Tsunami began, but Naruto silenced her with a wave.

"Get some rope and tie this idiots up. I need to check on your father." said Naruto as he created a shadow clone and gave it orders to protect the two, before moving out.

As Naruto jumped on trees heading out to the bridge, he poured some chakra into his communicator and began speaking.

"Oi Misaki, are you there?" asked Naruto.

"Yeah I am." replied Misaki.

"Tazuna's daughter almost got herself kidnapped over here." said Naruto. "I managed to save her though. What about on your end?"

"Yeah, here too. Zabuza and his lackey showed up." sighed Misaki. "Kakashi-sensei is fighting Zabuza while Sasuke took on the lackey."

"Good. Make sure it stays that way. I'm on my wa..." Naruto never finished his sentence as an explosion blew him out of the trees and on the ground.

"Naruto? What happened?" asked a worried Misaki.

"It seems I was ambushed." said Naruto. "I'll be there once I take care of this. Make sure that nobody gets killed before I get there."

"Wha! Naruto..." Naruto didn't here what Misaki said after that as he cut of his chakra flow to the communicator. He brushed the dust off from himself as a figure moved out of the shadows into the open.

"It has been a while, hasn't it." the figure spoke.

"It's been a while indeed. Maki." replied Naruto.

* * *

**Omake**

**Andrew: I'm back, guys.**

**Naruto. Hey hey hey. What the hell is going on? Why did you stop there?**

**Andrew: Because I don't want my readers to wait any more than 2 weeks to get a new chapter.**

**Naruto: So you cut it off there? You could have at least written a bit more in this chapter.**

**Andrew: What, and destroy the suspense? Come on. You should know that us writers live on the feeling of keeping our readers hanging like that. That way the readers anticipate more, and would show up the moment there's an update next time. This is my full proof plan for getting famous. Muahahahaha.**

**Naruto (aside): Except you just blurted your plan out here.  
**

**Andrew: Anyway, it's time for the "****Questions with your favorite character**"... You know what? That is a very bad name, so I'm going to rename this. So let's start with the first "Chara Corner."

***applause***

**Andrew: Today's guest is the mysterious hunter-nin Haku. Let's give her a big round of applause.**

**-Enter Haku- *applause***

**Haku: Hello.**

**Andrew: Hello. Welcome to our first Chara Corner.**

**Haku: Thank You for having me here.**

**Andrew: Oh no, the pleasure is all mine. Today we are going to ask you questions that the readers have brought forth. But before that, I have a few questions myself. I hope you don't mind.**

**Haku: Of course not.**

**Andrew: Good. So let's start with the first question. What's your age?**

***smack***

**Andrew: Right. Second question...**

**Naruto: Oi, you have a palm print on your face.**

**Andrew: Shut up, Naruto. Anyway, moving on to the next question. What are your three sizes?**

***smack**bam**crash***

**Naruto: Oi, are you all right? Your face is swollen, and your legs are frozen.**

**Andrew: I'm fine Naruto. Shut up. So let's move on to our next section which is "Reader's Thoughts." That's right. This is where your questions will be answered. So moving on with the first question... Would you want to be part of Naruto's peerage?**

**Haku: What's a peerage?**

**-Andrew and Naruto face faults-**

**Naruto: Um... peerage is I suppose, loyal followers?**

**Andrew: Both of you, don't answer questions with questions. Anyway, a peerage is... what Naruto said.  
**

**Haku: Why would I be someone else's loyal follower if I have Zabuza-sama?**

**Andrew: Ah, that's right. You do. Ok. Next question... I don't have any more. There was one, but your answer destroyed it even before it could be asked.**

**Haku: Is that so... Then why don't you answer a few questions.**

**Andrew: I'll answer only two then.**

**Haku: Okay then. First question is... Is Misaki a queen?**

**Andrew: Um... I can't answer something like that. But don't lose hope, cause it'll be answered soon enough in the story... Probably.**

**-Naruto and Haku sweat drops-**

**Haku: Fine then, next question. Will Haku and Sasuke be in Naruto's peerage?**

**Andrew (shifting uncomfortably): Ahahaha, who knows.**

**-Naruto and Haku face palm-  
**

**Andrew: Anyway moving on. Next time we will have Madoka in "Chara Corner". So don't forget to ask her questions. And now for our next chapters preview, Haku, take it away.**

**Haku: What is Maki doing in Wave? What will happen to the fight that is happening on the bridge. Will everyone be all right? Find out **

**Chorus: Next Time on Blonde Haired Devil.**


	11. Second Date

**Chapter 10: Second Date**

* * *

"Hello." talking

'Hello.' thinking

"Hello." Kyuubi talking

'Hello.' Kyuubi thinking

*Knock* Sound effects

"Bunshin no Jutsu" Jutsu

* * *

"It's been a while indeed. Maki." replied Naruto.

Naruto slowly turned around to face Maki, who had just come out from the shadows of the trees into the open. Her black hair was longer than he remembered, and was loosely held in a ponytail as it fell on her back. She wore navy blue kosode and hakama, which were held together snugly by a sky blue obi, accentuating her curves. A katana hung from her waist, while ninja sandals adorned her feet. A Konoha hitai-te could be seen tied to her left arm.

"You seem... alive." said Maki, as she scrutinized Naruto with her piercing amber eyes. She tilted her head slightly as Naruto began chuckling.

"And you still have your bad sense of humor I see." said Naruto as he took a step forward, which caused Maki to reach for her sword. "There's no need for that." he said. "I don't mean you any harm."

"And I'm supposed to believe that?" asked Maki sarcastically, raising an eyebrow.

"Why shouldn't you?" asked Naruto ignorantly.

"Um, Hello? I killed you. Or tried to kill you. That makes you susceptible to wanting revenge." deadpanned Maki.

"Oh come on!" exclaimed Naruto, waving his arms around animatedly. "Who do you think I am? Sasuke?"

"Who's Sasuke?" asked Maki cluelessly.

"Ugh. Never mind." waved Naruto dismissively. "Anyway, what are you doing here?" he asked.

"Oh, just on official work." replied Maki nonchalantly. "Didn't expect to meet one of my ex-missions here though."

"Indeed." condescended Naruto. "So. What are you going to do now?" he wondered.

"Hmm... How about killing you to remove the only blemish on my record?" said Maki as she drew her katana.

"Hey hey hey." Naruto waved his hands frantically. "Can't we settle this peacefully?"

"Nope." said Maki as she swung her sword.

"Wha! Naruto..."

* * *

"...don't you hang up on me! You frigging idiot!" exclaimed Misaki as Naruto cut off the communication. She stomped on the ground with anger, causing Tazuna to get frightened.

"I'm going to kill that moron!" roared Misaki.

* * *

Kakashi paused momentarily when he heard Misaki's roar, but was forced to hurriedly dodge a slash from Zabuza. Kakashi deftly wove his way through several ridiculously fast slashes by Zabuza, most of them by a hair's width. His sharingan was spinning rapidly to make out most of Zabuza's movements, who seemed to have taken quite a lesson from his previous beating by three genin, and had made sure to up his game.

And yet it couldn't completely overpower the sharingan, as Kakashi continued to dodge Zabuza's attacks, addind to his ire. This made him raise his offense more, and slashed at Kakashi with all his strength and speed, aiming to cleave Kakashi into half. This forced Kakashi to use a chakra enhanced jump to put some distance between them. The two stared at each other, trying to read and predict the others movement.

That lasted only a moment, as Zabuza stabbed his sword into the ground, before running through several handsigns, with Kakashi following suit. They formed to seals together, and yelled, with perfect unison...

**"Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu"**

The water from under the bridge swirled and rose up, with columns of water shooting up. The water converged on two points behind both Kakashi and Zabuza, before taking the form of dragons. The two water dragons seemed to size each other up for a fleeting moment, before charging and crashing into each other. Torrents of water crashed onto the bridge from the two jutsu, flooding the entire platform. The water swept over both the sides, and the excess water fell off like a waterfall from the unfinished end of the bridge.

"I suppose your reputation isn't unfounded, huh. Copy Ninja Kakashi." said an amused Zabuza.

"And neither is yours. Zabuza, Demon of the Bloody Mist." Kakashi fired back.

"Why thank you." said Zabuza with a mock bow. "But I must say, I'm actually very impressed with your students." Zabuza said appreciatively. "Not only is their teamwork good enough to take me on, their individual skills are pretty close to Haku, at least that brat's is." Zabuza motioned at Sasuke, who was standing horizontally on a pillar, with Haku standing on the other. Both of them had jumped there to escape from the torrents of water.

"However, this is the end for him." said Zabuza gravely. Sasuke and Haku took that exact moment to charge at each other. They clashed right at the middle of the bridge. Both of them stood there, with their respective weapons clashed and struggling for dominance. Then, a sudden chill engrossed the bridge, as the water seemed to lose heat. Suddenly, the water around Sasuke and Haku rose up, engulfing them completely. The water then froze, leaving several slabs made of ice hanging around them.

"Now that Haku has become serious, I can't really slack off, can I?" said Zabuza, raising one hand to his mouth and the other above him. **"Kirigakure no Jutsu."**

* * *

'What's going on?' wondered Sasuke as he found himself surrounded by plenty of mirrors made of Ice. He watched in shock as Haku walked right into one of the mirrors, and was soon reflected on all of the mirrors.

"You managed to keep up to me before." Haku's voice reverberated through the dome. "Let's see if you can keep up now."

* * *

Naruto stepped back, dodging the sword slash that was aimed for his torso. He then ducked down a horizontal slash meant to behead him, before moving inside Maki's guard. He aimed a punch a Maki's head, who dodged it by moving her head to the side. Naruto's momentum made him move farther into Maki, who tried to kick him in the stomach. Naruto blocked the kick with his left hand, before jumping back and putting some distance between him and Maki.

"Come On!" groaned Naruto. "We don't have to fight."

"Yes we do." Maki said with conviction. She held her katana with her right hand, slashing down in thin air. Holding her katana to her side, she then charged at Naruto, who jumped backwards and found himself unable to retreat anymore due to a tree. Maki slashed upwards with her sword, which Naruto dodged by jumping sideways.

"Why?" exclaimed Naruto, as he threw a couple of shurikens at Maki, who deftly deflected them with her katana.

"Because... I hate you." Maki said with intense loathing. She accelerated at Naruto, who found it prudent to take out his kunais and began parrying Maki's attacks.

"Why? What did I ever do to you?" asked Naruto quizzically as he ducked under another slash.

"What did you do to me?!" roared Maki. "Because of you, I lost my reputation. Because of you, I don't have a clean record. You are the only failure I ever had. I get laughed at because of you. All. Because. You. Lived." Her words were punctuated by slashes from her katana, which Naruto barely managed to parry. With each slash, it became harder and harder for Naruto to react to Maki's speed, and finally succumbed to a surprise kick to his stomach that sent him flying to into a tree.

"Gah!" Naruto hit the tree with enough force to knock the air out from his lungs. His back arched on impact, before he slid down limply onto the ground. He managed to pull himself up to a sitting position, before doubling over a coughing up a lot of blood.

"Ara ara. Are you done already?" chided Maki as she walked up to a crouching Naruto. "And here I thought you were going to put up a better fight this time around."

'Is she bipolar?' Naruto thought as he tried hard to control his labored breathing. He lost it again though, when Maki kicked him over so that he was now out of breath and laying on his back.

"I wonder how I should kill you." muttered Maki, running a finger along the blade of her katana. "Running a sword through you didn't kill you last time. Maybe I should just behead you..." Maki was lost in making plans on how to kill Naruto, who seemed to lose color from his face with every new way mentioned.

"Hmm, oh well. Doesn't really matter. If you don't die i'll just kill you again." said Maki raising her katana above her head.

"Hii..." Naruto closed his eyes, waiting for the impact, being completely unable to move. But several seconds passed, but the attack never came. He slowly opened his eyes, and saw Maki facing away from him, with one hand placed on her ear.

"Huh!" Maki muttered. "Why... Oh fine... I understand." Maki turned around and faced Naruto with an extremely displeased look on her face. "You are one lucky bastard you know that." She said, leaning down to get her face close to Naruto's. "You get to live."

The two stared at each other, Naruto looking up from his position, while Maki looking down on him. One could feel the tension between them, and sparks could be seen flying around them. Then, the tension broke, as Maki huffed and turned around before walking away.

Naruto stared at the sky blankly for a few seconds, listening to Maki's departure. Soon, there was no more sound.

"Time for me to leave as well." said Naruto, before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

* * *

The real Naruto was currently flying through the trees, his devil wings outstretched to the maximum. His eyes were scanning desperately for his target. His pupils had turned into slits from the magic he used to strengthen his vision. He was moving fast, flapping his wings to increase his speed. And yet, there was no sound from the flapping wings, due to magic being applied to them as well. He soon found his target, who had stopped in a clearing. Naruto swooped down into the undergrowth, before approaching the clearing on foot, hiding in the shrubs.

In the clearing, Maki stood with her right hand on her hips. She was facing away from Naruto, standing in front of another figure. Naruto couldn't see who it was, since the person was being hid from the view by Maki. Naruto craned his neck for a better view of the person, but crouched down immediately when Maki whipped her head around. Maki looked at where Naruto was suspiciously, before turning around to the person in front of her.

"Why did you call be back, Madoka-san?" said Maki in a displeased tone. "I could have killed him off." Maki shifted her position slightly to the left, revealing the beautiful figure of Kurokami Madoka.

*boink* Madoka lightly tapped Maki on the head. "And how many times do I have to remind you that you shouldn't go about killing comrades?" Madoka scolded her, causing Maki to lower her head in embarrassment.

"Uuuu..." pouted Maki. "But you know why I want to kill him."

"That doesn't mean you can actually kill him." lectured Madoka. "Show some moderation."

"Uuu... yes." Maki nodded.

"Anyway, did you do your job?" asked Madoka, changing the topic, sensing Maki's discomfort.

"Yes." said Maki, brightening immediately. "I 'stopped' the bandits from attacking the village." Maki made a victory sign with her hand while striking a cute pose.

'She really is bipolar.' thought Naruto, while Madoka sweat-dropped at Maki's antiques.

"Good. That means they won't be a problem anymore." Madoka praised Maki by patting her on the head, who seemed to melt from the touch.

"Ufun..." Maki smiled happily, nuzzling her head into Madoka's hand.

"Alright." siad Madoka, pulling her hand away, causing Maki to become teary eyed. "Time for you to go and accomplish your real mission."

This caused Maki to become happy again. "Yes." she said cheerfully. She bowed slightly to Madoka, before running away.

Madoka turned around, looking at Maki running away. She then slighly turned her head towards the direction of Naruto, who stiffened.

"Why don't you come out of your hiding place, Naruto-kun." said Madoka.

Naruto slowly got out of his hiding place, and walked out into the open. "How long have you known?" he said, dusting the leaves off that got stuck to him.

"From the very beginning." said Madoka, turning around to face Naruto. "I noticed you the moment Maki turned around suspiciously."

"Tch." Naruto clicked his tongue in annoyance. "And here I thought I had managed to hide myself well."

"Oh, you did." Madoka complemented Naruto. "It's just that my sensory capabilities are better than your avaerage ninja."

"Whatever." Naruto waved Madoka off. "Anyway. I didn't know you were a Jounin."

"There are lots of things that you don't know about me." Madoka said with a small giggle. "So. What are you going to do now?"

"Hmm... I think I'll go back to my team now." said Naruto, turning around to leave. He took a couple of steps, before turning his head around. "You should keep a tighter leash on your servant. Someone might just accidentally kill her." And with that Naruto spread his devil wings and flew away.

"So, you figured it out..." muttered Madoka, a slightly crooked grin on her lips. "Interesting... Very Interesting... I wonder what else are you going to show to me, Naruto-kun. Kukuku... Kahahahaha!" Madoka suddenly burst out laughing, as devil wings sprouted from her back.

* * *

Naruto flew hurriedly through the forest towards the bridge, trying to make up for the lost time. He pured some chakra into his communicator, and started talking.

"Oi, Misaki. Are you there?" Naruto asked. The next moment, his head snapped to side as a shouting voice came over from the other side.

"Naruto, you motherfucking bastard!" roared Misaki over the communicator. "How dare you cut off the communicator!"

"Calm down, Misaki." Naruto tried to appease her... "It couldn't be helped, you know."

"Calm down!" ... didn't really help. "How can I calm down when you first tell me that you are being ambushed and then cut off the communicator?"

"Because I never was ambushed in the first place?" Naruto said uncertainly.

"Heh?" asked a puzzled Misaki, "What do you mean by that?"

"I meant exactly what I said." replied Naruto, letting out a sigh of relief. "I had noticed the ambush long before I reached it. So I had switched with a clone and gave it the communicator. Then I made the clone do the talking. That's why I said not to worry."

"Is that so..." muttered Misaki, who was now slightly embarrassed at her previous outburst. "If that is the case, how are you talking to me now?" she asked in an attempt to shake of the embarrassment.

"I am using the spare communicator." replied Naruto. "Why? Didn't you notice?"

"..." Misaki didn't say anything as she finally realized that Naruto was using a spare communicator.

"Anyway... How's the situation there?" asked Naruto.

"Ah!" exclaimed Misaki, "Well... I suppose you could say that it's fine... or you could say that it isn't fine..."

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked a puzzled Naruto.

"Well..." Misaki hesitated. "Everyone is still alive, so you say that everything is fine... but..."

"But?" Naruto asked curiously.

"Um... How can I say this... Sasuke is currently inside a dome made of ice with the hunter nin, where as Zabuza used his mist technique, so I can't really see anything clearly..." Misaki muttered.

"Hooh... Is that so?" Naruto wondered. "I'll be there soon, so why don't you get Sasuke out of that ice cube.. or dome... or whatever."

"And how am I supposed to do that?" asked Misaki.

"Are you an idiot?" scolded Naruto, causing Misaki to flinch. "The area is covered in mist, isn't it. That means there is no sun. Add two and two, will you."

" ..." Misaki said in realization. "You want me to do 'that'."

"Yep. There's no need to hold back. Give them hell." said Naruto.

"Right."

* * *

Kakashi stood in the midst of the mist, waiting for Zabuza's next strike to happen. With almost zero visibility, he had been unable to pin point Zabuza's location even once. As such, he was left to sensing Zabuza's attacks and simply dodge them.

"You know Kakashi," Zabuza's voice reverberated through the entire area. "I didn't expect you to only dodge my attacks. I was expecting you to be... more aggressive, you know what I mean. If this continues on, I might decide that your silly little genins have surpassed you."

"Your ventriloquism is really getting on my nerve, you know that Zabuza." muttered Kakashi irritatedly. "But still, I might agree on the fact that my genins have the potential to surpass me. But they still have a long ways to go."

"I didn't really mean it as a complement, ya know." muttered Zabuza. He then swiftly and silently appeared behind Kakashi, his sword already in mid swing.

Kakashi realized immediately, and jumped over the horizontal slash. In the next moment he was forced to dodge a vertical slash in mid air. He didn't dodge it perfectly though, which he realized the moment he landed on his feet, as blood gushed out of a cut on his left shoulder.

"Gah!" a gasp of pain escaped from his mouth as Zabuza used his sword as a pivot to swing around and kicked Kakashi in the mid section, sending him flying. Kakashi flew a few good metres before skidding to a halt. He slowly pulled himself up, using his right hand to stop the blood flow from his wounded shoulder.

"This is beginning to become boring." said Zabuza, annoyed at Kakashi's seeming lack of skill. "If you don't take this seriously, you are soon going to get killed."

Kakashi pulled out a scroll from his weapons pouch. "You are right in that aspect, I guess." said Kakashi as he opened the scroll, before smearing some of his blood on the scroll. "I should live up to my reputation, or I might become 'late' Kakashi permanently."

* * *

Sasuke was in a pinch. No, a pinch would be understating his predicament. He was in real trouble. At first he had manage to match the hunter nin blow for blow, their speeds being on par. But the moment the hunter nin got inside the ice mirrors of his, the fight turned into a one sided affair. The speed with which the hunter nin moved through the mirrors was insane, and he was having a really hard time keeping up with him. And those senbon needles that seemed to be the weapon of choice for the hunter nin were extremely annoying. For some weird reason, he had yet to be hit on any vitals, even though you would be inclined to believe that Zabuza's apprentice would at least manage that much. This had turned him into a human porcupine, and was hindering him in his movements.

He was getting used to the speed, however. The only reason he still kept on being hit was because his body couldn't actually keep up with the speed, which frustrated him to no end. This hampered his ability to come up with a plan, and thus it hadn't been until now that Sasuke had a plan of action.

"Oh... you have a good expression there." the hunter nin's voice echoed through the dome. "Did you come up with a plan?"

"Ah.. Maybe." replied Sasuke, his signature arrogant smirk made way to his lips. "I wonder if you have an answer for this." and with that, he ran through several hand signs before breathing out a giant fireball out from his mouth.

**"Katon Goukyaku no Jutsu."**

The fireball hit the ice head on, causing a large amount of smoke to be created, disrupting his vision. Once the smoke cleared, it revealed a completely unharmed ice dome.

"And that was supposed to do what?" asked the hunter nin tilting his head to one side, not understanding Sasuke's actions.

"It served it's purpose." replied Sasuke, his grin becoming larger with each passing seconds, completely revealing his smugness. Next, he did something completely out of character. He rubbed his nose. "Nihi! Good Bye." and with that he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"What the..." the hunter nin couldn't finish his thought, as suddenly lots of gigantic balls of fire assaulted the dome from the outside, shattering the mirrors that held it in place. As more and more fireballs assaulted the dome, it exploded.

* * *

Kakashi ran through several hand signs, before placing his bloodied right hand on the scroll.

**"Kuchiose no Jutsu."**

With a puff of smoke, seven nin dogs appeared right in front of Kakashi.

"Oh, a summoning, huh." said Zabuza, impressed. "But still, unless you have something that can find me in this mist, its useless." He said, shaking his head, although no one noticed.

"Then it's a good thing that they can find you, right?" said Kakashi.

"Huh.. Ouch." Zabuza couldn't finish his sentence, as he felt a sharp pain in his legs. He looked down, to see a dog biting into his calf. This was followed by six more dogs, who bit into any possible parts of Zabuza they could find, effectively holding him in place.

"Dogs? But how did they find me?" asked Zabuza incredulously.

"The blood on your sword." replied Kakashi. Zabuza looked down to his sword, and foud its tip smeared completely in Kakashi's blood. "But even if I said I would live up to my reputation, I am not going to use any of my copied moves. Rather, I am going to use my original move against you. Be proud Zabuza. Not many can force me to use this move. You just placed yourself into a very very small list."

'What's he talking about?' thought Zabuza as he looked on into the mist, completely unable to move. It was then that he remembered Kakashi's original move, and at that same moment, he saw a bright blue light appeared before him, followed by the large chirping of birds. "Is he going to use.." he never did manage to finish his thought as an explosion occurred near the center of the bridge. A strong shock wave followed, that almost knocked Zabuza off his feet, and a couple of the nin dogs lost their grip for the moment. The mist cover was blown away by the shock wave, revealing the entire bridge.

"Haku." Zabuza called out immediately after realizing that the explosion came from the ice dome. He spotted Haku soon, who was now on the ground, knocked out by the force of the explosion. There was smoke coming out from him. Zabuza looked around, and found the two members of Kakashi's team standing in front of Tazuna, protecting him from the shock wave.

"Well, well, well... This is quite surprising, right?" an unknown voice spoke. Everyone looked towards the origin of the voice, to find a stout man in a suit, with a walking stick in his hand.

"Gatou!?" exclaimed Tazuna.

"Ah! Tazuna, you seem to be still alive." said Gatou cheerfully. "That means Zabuza and his lackey failed. That takes a load off my chest you know. Now I don't have to worry about paying him." he said with an evil sneer on his lips.

"What is the meaning of this?" Zabuza roared.

"Ara. It's obvious, you know." said Gatou. "I'm not going to pay you. In fact, I am going to have you killed. Do you know how much bounty is on your head? That's why I brought an army, you know." Gatou pointed towards the incomplete end of the bridge. Everyone turned to look, and indeed, there were at least hundred bandits who had gathered at the end.

'This just got worse.' thought Kakashi, canceling his technique.

"Heh? What's this?" said Gatou, noticing Haku on the ground. "Isn't it Zabuza's lackey? Why is he on the ground? Did he die?" Gatou walked up to Haku's unconscious body and began poking him with his stick, "Hm... He's just unconscious." Gatou said, visibly disappointed.

Gatou then turned towards Zabuza. "But that's still fine. I can now do what I always wanted to do." he said, before pressing a switch on his stick, that released a hidden blade from its tip. He then stabbed the stick right into Haku's stomach. "I always wanted to kill this bitch." Gatou stirred the stick into Haku's stomach, before pulling it out crudely. He then stabbed again, this time right into Haku's throat. "Your lackey was very annoying, you know that, Zabuza." said Gatou as he pulled the stick out, before retracting the blade in. "Someone would have killed her..."

Gatou could never finish his sentence though as he suddenly coughed up a lot of blood. He felt a sharp, body numbing pain in his chest region. He looked down, and saw a blonde haired kid looking up at him with cold, emotionless blue eyes. For a fleeting moment, Gatou seemed to see himself burning in the pits of hell in his eyes. He was brought out of illusions when another sharp pain attacked his nerves, this time in his stomach. He looked down, and saw a kunai sticking into his chest from the front, while a katana was sticking into his stomach from the back. The kunai and katana were pulled out at the same time, as Gatou fell to the floor sideways.

"What in the hell..."

* * *

**Omake**

**Andrew: Alright, another chapter done.**

**Naruto: Ahh...**

**Andrew: Hm. What happened to you?**

**Naruto: Nothing much. I just got bored with your cliffhangers.**

**Andrew (flinching): Eh! Is that so?**

**Naruto: Yup. Your cliffhangers are now so regular, that no one is surprised by it.**

**Andrew: No way... But even then you shouldn't be that depressed just by that.**

**Naruto: Tch. Saw through me, did you? Fine, fine. It's because we are having Madoka over at today's Chara Corner.**

**Andrew: What's wrong with that?**

**Naruto: She scares me. I mean she's insane you know. And that laugh clearly showed that.**

**Andrew: Ah... You would be scared, wouldn't you. Guess it can't be helped. You don't have to attend today's Chara Corner.**

**Naruto: Really? Then I am going to leave now. (leaves)**

**Andrew: So moving on. Let's welcome today's guest, Kurokami Madoka.**

**Madoka: Thank you for having me over.**

**Andrew: Nope. Pleasure's mine. And since we are running out of show time, we'll do this quick. Why did you pick Naruto to do the mission (whatever that is)?**

**Madoka: Because i would be entertaining if he did.**

**Andrew: Entertaining... huh... Well I suppose that seals that. Moving on to the announcement, next time, we are going to have our beloved, and by beloved I mean completely hated, Maki on our show. That's right. The person who killed (or supposedly killed) Naruto will show up. Hope you guys have lots of questions to ask her. Also, for the section after that, we will have either Naruto and Misaki who will answer the questions.**

**And Next Time, you guys will find out about Zabuza's fate. So drop a review down below. It's what makes us writers feel loved. Also gives us motivation to write. So good or bad, please, do review. Ja ne!**


	12. A New Devil is Born

**Author's Note: Been a while, hasn't it. Before moving into the chapter, I think I'll just apologise for the greatest delay I have yet to cause. So I am sincerely sorry.**

**Now, on with the story.**

* * *

**Chapter 11: A new devil is born**

**"Hello." talking**

'Hello.' thinking

**"Hello."** Kyuubi talking

**'Hello.' **Kyuubi thinking

*Knock* Sound effects

* * *

Gatou stood there motionlessly, with a kunai and a katana impaling him from the front and the back respectively. For a couple of moments, no one moved or said anything. Gatou slowly looked downwards, and saw a blonde haired kid holding the kunai buried deep into his solar plexus. The cold, emotionless look on the boy's face sent chills up Gatou's back.

The blonde boy twisted the kunai, causing Gatou's body to spasm, before pulling the kunai out crudely. Blood poured out of the open wound as if it were coming out of a geyser. Gatou then experienced another bout of spasms, as the katana that impaled him from behind was pulled out as roughly, if not more, as the kunai.

Once the katana was pulled out, Gatou lost his strength, slumping down to his knees. He then fell face first into his own blood. As Gatou lay there on the pool of blood, bleeding out, his eyesight dimming, his last thoughts were, "Am I really dying?"

Complete silence enveloped the bridge as Gatou died. No one could really comprehend what had just occurred. It was quick, and it was efficient. The kill took an overall of 3 seconds, and that was only because there were two people performing the kill. Gatou had been unable to make a single sound, and had died within seconds of the kill.

The blonde boy walked up to the now dead crime lord, and stood beside the body. He looked at the dead body with disdain. He bent down, and wiped his bloodied kunai on the shirt if Gatou, before putting it back in his kunai holster. A shadow covered him, and he looked up to see a girl of his age wiping a katana with a piece of cloth. The boy stood up, facing the girl, and spoke.

"You shouldn't have interfered, Maki." The blonde said with some contempt. "I could have handled this one by myself."

"And how were you going to do that, Naruto?" asked Maki, with a hint of disbelieve, as she sheathed her katana. "You didn't even get here in time to save the poor girl." Maki pointed at Haku's dead body, which was only a few feet away from them.

"And whose fault do you think that is?" Naruto asked, getting angry, "If you hadn't stopped me on my way here, I could have gotten here ages ago."

"As if." replied Maki, whipping her head to the side in a show of pride. "You didn't even get here before me."

"Again, it was your fault that I was late." replied Naruto, clearly riled up by Maki's prideful display.

"If you can't even get over such a small setback, you can never hope to surpass me." boasted Maki.

"A small setback… You almost killed me back there." Naruto roared.

"Like I said, small setback." said Maki.

"You… What… Aaagghh!" Naruto sputtered in dismay.

"Is this really the time to be having a lover's quarrel?" The two bickering ninjas were broken out of their conversation by Sasuke, who had walked up to them in an attempt to calm them down. "We have a situation on our hand you know." He said, pointing to the hundreds of bandits that Gatou had brought with him, and none were all too pleased with their boss's sudden demise.

"The brat's right." exclaimed one of the bandits. "You killed our boss ya know."

"That's right." shouted another. "Who's going to pay us now, huh?"

"I say we kill them all and then split the bounty on their heads." offered a bandit.

"Yeah. Let's kill'em all." Roared the bandits in unison.

"… It really is a situation, isn't it?" Naruto muttered. He stepped over Gatou's body, placing himself in between the bandits and his teammates. "We better clean this mess up. Don't you agree, Maki?" he said, cracking his knuckles.

"I suppose we really should." replied Maki, taking her katana out of the sheath once more, before taking a low single handed stance, while pointing the tip of the blade downward.

Naruto crouched on all four of his limbs, poising himself like a tiger out on a hunt… or more like a fox out on a hunt. He then turned his head around, looking at Kakashi and spoke. "Don't tell anyone what's going to happen next. No one. Do you understand?" Naruto spoke with an overwhelming tone, one which made it almost impossible to refuse.

But Kakashi wasn't a Jounin just for show. He shrugged off the pressure with a nonchalant jerk of his head and spoke. "I'll still have to report to Hokage-dono, you know."

Naruto paused in his crouching position, every muscle in his body tensed for the strike. He considered the idea, and then nodded. "Only Hokage-jiji then." he said, before turning towards the bandits, who had taken the time to just stand there and make a din.

A low, rumbling growl emanated from Naruto, which slowly rose to a thundering roar, silencing the bandits. Chakra began to leak from Naruto at an alarming rate, forming a cloak over him. Soon the blue chakra began to change colour, slowly inching towards red. The red chakra seemed to be boiling as it completely enveloped Naruto. It shaped itself like a fox, giving Naruto the appearance of one. The excess chakra gathered together to form a tail. Naruto's pupils changed to slits, while his birthmarks on his cheeks elongated. Then, just as suddenly as the chakra began leaking, it stopped, leaving Naruto in the form.

'Is that Naruto?' wondered Sasuke, awestruck by the transformation. But it wasn't over yet, not by a long shot.

A reckless smile appeared on Naruto's face as he stretched his limbs. He then began releasing a large amount of black energy, the kind that no one had ever seen before. It didn't resemble chakra in the slightest, and felt as if one could touch it if they wanted to. The cloak around Naruto slowly darkened, until it was pitch black. Then with a flash of light, the cloak dissipated, leaving a fairly flustered and normal Naruto.

"Um… What just happened?" asked a clearly bewildered Sasuke.

"I think he just messed it up." replied Kakashi.

"Pfft! Hahaha!" Maki burst into laughter at Naruto's misfire of whatever he had attempted to do.

"We can't let the brat do whatever it was that he tried to do." roared one of the bandits.

"Yeah." shouted another. "Attack!"

And answering the call, all of the bandits charged towards the group of ninja.

"Shit." Naruto jumped up in panic. "Misaki, cover me." He said rummaging his backpack for something unsuccessfully. When no response came, he turned around, and found himself faced with a clearly pissed Misaki.

"Oh, so now you remember me." Misaki said, a vein pulsing on her forehead.

"Come on, Misaki. This is no time to be angry." pleaded Naruto, "You can be angry at me as much as you like later on."

"Really?" questioned Misaki.

"Yes, really." answered Naruto.

"Good." said Misaki. She stepped in front of Naruto, and went through several hand signs. A large amount of chakra flooded out of her, which poured down the sides of the bridge and into the sea. Then, pillars of water shot out of the sea, before converging together, forming a wall of water between the bandits and the shinobi.

"I can only hold this for a minute, so get your ass moving and do what you need to." Misaki shouted.

Naruto pulled a small pouch out of his backpack, before grabbing a red pill from it. He put the pill into his mouth, and crouched down on all fours as he swallowed the pill. Then, like before, a large amount of chakra leaked from him, which changed colour from blue to red much faster this time around. As the chakra began wrapping around Naruto, the water wall collapsed.

Misaki fell down on her knees, clearly expended by the large amount of chakra usage. She looked in Naruto's direction panting heavily, hoping that the time she provided was enough. And it was, as she saw Naruto fully cloaked in the red chakra.

'This is interesting.' thought Maki, as she prepared to charge into the bandits. 'I wondered what the idiot's gonna do with that much chakra. Hope he doesn't get in my way.'

Maki soon found out, as two huge arm-like appendages shot from Naruto's chakra cloak and towards the bandits. The chakra hands grabbed as many bandits in its grasp before chucking them over the side of the bridges. After throwing over a large amount of the frontal assault, Naruto shot of right into the middle of the bandits. The chakra had now formed two tails, which whipped out with regular intervals at unsuspecting victims, who were swept away with no mercy.

Not wanting to be outdone, Maki charged right into the now rapidly diminishing front-line. Not many could follow the fast and lithe movements of Maki, or her swift and precise sword-strikes, which sliced off legs, torso and heads with ease. The only way one could follow her was to look for the chunks of sliced bandits which trailed behind her.

That was when a large water dragon burst right out of the sea and collapsed on the majority of the bandits left, wiping them out instantly. Naruto and Maki both paused to see Zabuza releasing enough oppressing pressure to match his name of Demon. Having finally broken out of his stupor of seeing Haku die in front of him, he was now looking more menacing than ever. Needless to say that the handful of bandits left decided to test their luck at sea; that is, they jumped into the sea even though most of them could not swim.

Zabuza was about to pursue them, when he was blocked by a large wall of red chakra. He turned to face Naruto, who had appeared right behind him in an instant.

"Don't do something rash here Zabuza." warned Naruto, as his cloak began to diminish around him, until it remained only on his left arm, extending out into the wall.

"Stop blocking my way brat." Zabuza growled, giving Naruto a murderous look. "You won't live to regret it."

"While I understand your impulse to have revenge…" began Naruto, but was interrupted by a livid Zabuza.

"You don't understand me!" roared Zabuza. "Did you even have to watch…" this time, it was Zabuza's turn to be interrupted.

"Shut your trap, you stupid man." Naruto snapped. "You should mourn only when all hopes of saving your partner has disappeared."

"Wha… Do you mean she's still alive?" asked Zabuza, who couldn't believe his ears.

"Technically, she's dead." Naruto raised a finger to silence Zabuza. "But there's still a chance to save her."

* * *

"How much longer would it take her to wake up?"

"She should wake up soon."

Haku heard distant voices as the darkness engulfing her slowly began to dissipate. She was disoriented at first, unable to remember where she was or what she was doing. Only a dull haze remained in her mind. But it soon cleared, as she slowly began to regain consciousness, as well as control over her body. With great effort, she snapped her eyes open, only to be blinded by the light. She squinted her eyes, trying to get her bearing right, when she noticed a blonde boy looking at her face closely.

With speed that surprised even her, Haku attempted to roll away from the boy, whom she was yet to recognize. But the boy reacted with greater speed, grabbing her hand, before pulling her back into the bed.

"You shouldn't be moving yet." the boy said, and Haku's vision restored enough to recognize him as Naruto.

"Haku!" someone called from behind Naruto. Haku's eyes refocused, and she finally noticed a very familiar person standing right behind Naruto.

"Zabuza-sama!" she cried, leaping forward into Zabuza's hands, who for once, had tears running from his eyes.

"I'm so glad." said Zabuza as he hugged onto Haku. "I thought that I almost lost you."

"I'm sorry to have worried you." said Haku, tears streaming from her eyes as well.

"While I would normally gladly let you continue this reunion," Naruto piped suddenly, "I still need to run a few check ups on her."

"Fine." replied Zabuza curtly, letting go of Haku. "Do your check up quickly."

Zabuza moved aside to give Naruto some space, who begin quickly to stretch Haku's arms and legs out.

"The arms are alright." said Naruto. "So are the legs. Neck's fine too." He said, rotating Haku's head around. Then, his hands moved downward before...

*squish*

… he groped her.

Time seemed to stop inside the room, as Haku and Zabuza both froze in their spots. Naruto continued to grope Haku's breast, admiring them.

"Well, the breasts seem to be alright, too." He said, smiling.

Blood quickly rose to Haku's cheek, forming a ferocious blush. "Kyaaaaaaaah!" she let out a cute scream, before punching Naruto right in the face, causing him to fly out of the room through the open door.

"You filthy, perverted bastard!" roared Haku, charging after him. She was blocked, surprisingly by Zabuza, who had closed the door behind him.

"While I want to kill the brat as much as you do." said Zabuza bitterly. "You kind of owe your life to him."

* * *

Naruto pulled himself up from the ground, dusting off his clothes as he did.

"And strength is back to normal too." he muttered to himself, before walking down the stairs.

"Is she up yet?" a voice asked Naruto, who looked up to see Sasuke waiting for him at the bottom of the stairs.

"Yup." replied Naruto as he walked into the dining room. He looked around, and saw Misaki sitting at the table, and was accompanied by Tazuna, who for once was not drinking. Tazuna's daughter Tsunami was currently in the kitchen, a delicious smell coming from it. "Where's Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked, noticing the Jounin's presence, or rather, the lack of it.

"He said something about sending a report." said Misaki, getting up from the table.

The three genin converged, before walking out of the house together. At the door, they met Kakashi, who had just returned from his errand.

"Where are you lot going?" he asked them.

"Just for a walk." replied Naruto.

"Don't be too long." said Kakashi as he took out his book. "The mission isn't over yet."

"Sure, Kakashi-sensei." Naruto nodded.

The trio walked for a little while, before coming to a stop inside a small clearing in the forest surrounding the house.

"So..." Sasuke began. "Are you going to tell us about that Maki chick?"

Naruto looked apprehensively at Sasuke for bringing up the topic from the get go, as he could now feel the intense glare that Misaki was sending him.

"You had to bring that up didn't you." Naruto muttered under his breath.

"What did you say?" Misaki asked dangerously.

"Nothing, nothing." Naruto replied, flustered.

"Right..." Misaki was not convinced. She crossed her arms, and began tapping her right foot. "Come on. What are you waiting for?"

And thus Naruto explained his past with Maki, how he met her, how she had killed her, and then there subsequent 'reunion' in the forest earlier during the day. He did leave out a few details here and there, but he gave his teammates a proper explanation.

"So... you are telling me that this Maki girl asked you out on a date, and then killed you?" Sasuke was dubious.

"Yup." Naruto nodded seriously.

"That is just... pathetic." Sasuke ridiculed Naruto, a full blown grin appearing on his lips.

"Hey, just so you know, I didn't actually die. I was reborn into the powerful devil that you see today." Naruto argued.

"But it's still pathetic." Sasuke replied triumphantly.

"Guh!" Naruto groaned, having given to Sasuke the perfect ammunition for his sarcastic comments.

* * *

"And that's the story." Zabuza finished.

"So you are telling me that I died, then that perverted ninja did something to my body, and I came back to life?" Haku asked incredulously. "And now I am somehow bound to do what he bids me to do?"

"Well that's one way of summing it up." Zabuza agreed.

"You know Zabuza-sama, I respect you. But I never expected you to believe such cock and bull story." Haku scolded Zabuza.

"But you really did die." Zabuza tried to defend himself.

"That still doesn't mean that I am somehow bound to him." Haku said bitterly.

"But, but..." Zabuza stuttered.

"No buts." Haku raised a finger. "I didn't expect Zabuza-sama to do something so silly. I am going to ask him again." Haku muttered. Zabuza felt a chill go up his spine as Haku began muttering several rather violent ways of getting the truth from Naruto.

* * *

Haku and Zabuza came down to the dining room a little while later to find Kakashi leaning against a wall with a book in his hands. A young woman was in the kitchen, whom Zabuza recognized as the bridge builders daughter. The said bridge builder, Tazuna, had visibly stiffened at the sight of Zabuza, the previous encounters laying heavy in his mind.

Zabuza scanned the room for the genins, and once he didn't find them, he asked Kakashi.

"Where's the blonde brat?"

Before Kakashi could reply however, the door opened, and in came the three genin.

"Ah, brat. Good timing. We need to talk." said Zabuza.

"Huh?" Naruto looked puzzled. "About what?"

"It's about my servitu..." Haku began, but couldn't finish her sentence as Naruto showed a rare burst of speed to reach Haku and slammed a hand over her mouth.

"Why don't we go outside and talk?" Naruto chuckled nervously, before pulling Haku behind him as he rushed outside.

An awkward silence followed, which was broken by Kakashi. "That was weird."

* * *

"Why did you drag me out like that?" asked Haku angrily.

"They don't know about the situation yet." answered Naruto, slightly out of breath, "and I plan on keeping it that way for a while."

"Why is that?" Haku was puzzled.

"Uh... it's rather complicated, and I want to explain things in the right order." replied Naruto.

"Alright. Then explain to me why I am supposed to follow your orders?" Haku asked, her anger and irritation surfacing again.

"About that... It's not like you _have_ to listen to them... more like you should listen as long as they are reasonable." Naruto tried to explain.

"Even if they are reasonable, why should I follow them?" Haku failed to understand Naruto's reasoning.

"Well, it directly relates to the method I used to revive you." Naruto began. "You see, you were dead. There's no doubt about it. It was not possible to bring you back to life through any normal methods. So what I did was …." at this Naruto's volume dipped to unintelligible levels.

"What exactly did you do?" Haku asked, her temper rising.

"I kinda turned you into a devil." Naruto replied nervously.

"What do you mean turned me into a devil?" Haku asked threateningly.

"You know, those things that show up in stories and legends, like demons, but not exactly the same..." said Naruto.

"Again with your stories. If can't come up with a good enough explanation, at least don't lie." Haku turned to leave, unconvinced by Naruto's feeble explanation.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." a voice reverberated through the area. A figure walked out of the shadow of the trees.

"Maki!" Naruto exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to pass on a message, but seeing you can't even explain things to your new recruit properly, I decided that I should step in before this little girl here ends up dead again." Maki replied.

"Hey, who are you calling a little girl?" Haku exclaimed.

"Oh shut up. I'm doing you a favor." Maki snapped at Haku, before turning towards Naruto. "The best way to talk about devils is to give a demonstration."

Maki charged Naruto with tremendous speed, her katana making way to her hand in the blink of an eye. She sliced at Naruto, making him jump into the air. She then proceeded with a stabbing attack at the airborne Naruto, who had no way to dodge the attack. Haku closed her eyes on instinct, but when no sound of flesh being impaled by a sword came, she opened her eyes, and the sight that greeted her was surprising to say the least.

Naruto was currently hovering several meters above the ground. He had black bat like wings out of his back, which had allowed him to fly out of the way of the sword.

"That wasn't a very nice thing to do." Naruto said gravely.

"And I'm not trying to be nice to you." replied Maki, equally serious.

"Tch." Naruto clicked his tongue in irritation. "What are you here for anyway?"

"I came here to confirm that she is going to join your group or not." Maki answered

"And if she's not?" asked Naruto.

"Well... you already know what's going to happen, don't you." Maki replied, a crazed look appearing on her face along with a bloodthirsty grin. "And I'm going to take extreme pleasure in exacting the punishment."

A tense atmosphere descended between the two, and Haku began to remember once again, the prowess of Naruto's skills that she had seen before, and if someone was at an equal... no, at a better footing than him invited fear towards them.

"As you can see, I'm still in the middle of explaining things to her." Naruto said. "And the only way you can go after her is if I declare her as a stray. If I don't... well, let's just say that your master won't be very pleased to pay for damages caused by your willfulness."

"Awww, you're such a party pooper." Maki pouted. She turned around to leave, before twisting her head in Naruto's direction. "But if you ever need a stray to kill, all you have to do is just ask." and with that, she disappeared into the woods.

Naruto looked in the direction where Maki went for a while, before slowly hovering down onto the ground, folding his wings, and turning towards Haku.

"So, where were we."

* * *

Misaki leaned against a tree, waiting for something. It had been a while since Naruto had left with Haku. Misaki had left immediately after them, having sensed a certain something in the vicinity. She didn't have to wait too long, as she felt it fly past her. Letting go of all restraints, she summoned several magic circles, which then went on to fire many more magic attacks, all of which converged into one spot, which exploded with absolutely no finesse.

"That's not a very nice greeting, is it?" a voice spoke up from behind Misaki. Misaki spun around, and was met with a punch right in the gut, which send her flying. "Let me return the favor." the owner of the voice stepped out of the shadows, revealing herself to be Maki.

Misaki puled herself up from the ground, before standing face to face with Maki.

"So, will you tell me the reason for such a warm welcome?" Maki asked sarcastically. "Or do I have to beat it out of you."

"Why did you come back into Naruto's life?" Misaki asked, seething with anger.

"Straight to the point, I see." Maki muttered to herself. She then spoke out loud, smiling. "What make's you think that I came back into his life willing?"

"There's no way a bitch like you wouldn't want to get into his life, now that he's strong." Misaki growled.

One didn't need to be an expert to realize that Maki's smile was fake, the amount of negative energy escaping her was quite intense.

"Hmm... Jealous, I see. Didn't think I'll see someone jealous for _him_." Maki muttered, pretending to ignore the insult. "Anyway. I didn't know that that stupid idiot was going to be here as well. And, no. I don't think that he's strong either."

"Then you're wrong." Misaki roared.

"Oh. And what will _you_ do. Prove to me by defeating me?" Maki goaded Misaki. "You're just his lackey."

"Why you..." Misaki lost her temper at this point. With her wings unfurling, she summoned hundreds of magic circles, all surrounding Maki. She then hurled a series of magic attacks which assaulted Maki from all direction. The explosion this time was even greater, and the smoke and debris burst upwards in a mushroom cloud.

Misaki was panting heavily, having expended all her energy into one attack. But as the smoke began clearing, she couldn't find any sign of Maki. Suddenly, a twig broke behind her. Before she could turn around, however, a hand lashed out, chopping her in the neck, rendering her unconscious.

"Too easy."

* * *

"Right, so as just demonstrated, you are now... a devil." said Naruto.

Haku remained speechless for a while, before speaking. "So... I have wings."

"Yup." replied Naruto, nodding heavily. "And special powers too."

"Like what?" asked Haku, starting to feel curious.

"Well, for one thing, you'll live for a very long time." Naruto said, enjoying Haku's surprised expression. "You'll have improved endurance, for one thing. You'll also have greater speed than before." At this, Haku's eyes widened even more. "Although there will be some negatives too." Haku deflated a bit. "You'll be extremely adverse to sunlight, for one thing. In fact, if you're not too careful, it might even kill you." Haku was clearly depressed at this. "But no need to worry. A simple spell can fix that."

Haku contemplated all the information, before clapping her hand as if she remembered something. "You still haven't told me why I have to serve you."

"Well..." Naruto seemed to weigh his words a bit. "I'm going to tell you the truth. You don't _have_ to follow my orders. But if you don't I can declare you a stray devil."

"And...?" Haku urged Naruto to continue.

"Other devils will hunt you down." Naruto stated.

"Now wait just a minute..." Haku began, but Naruto beat her to it.

"You don't have to worry about that. All you need to do is be my knight."

"Aren't you messing up the order?" Haku asked.

"No... I didn't mean it like a princess and knight thing. I meant that I'll be the king while you'll be the knight." Naruto explained.

"That still doesn't explain it." Haku was miffed.

"Um... I managed to get a high rank in the devils echelon after a hellish training and several ridiculous battles. Which in turn allowed me to revive humans and make them my, should I say employee. They work for me, and they get paid. Once they become strong enough themselves, they can get a higher rank, and later employ others too." Naruto elaborated.

"So I'll get paid?" Haku asked.

"Yup." replied Naruto, happy to have made the point go through.

"And I don't necessarily have to follow your orders?"

Naruto nodded.

"But I have to leave Zabuza-sama." Haku said in realization.

"I'm afraid so." replied Naruto. "But you don't have to worry about him. An acquaintance of mine will take him in, give him jobs so that he can finally realize his dream of freeing the Land of Water. So, do we have a deal?"

Haku considered all the information given to her. She reached a conclusion (Albeit a painful one).

"As long as I can still help Zabuza-sama." Haku nodded. "I won't do anything for you other wise."

"Deal."

* * *

Misaki slowly came to her senses. As she slowly pulled herself to a sitting position, a rustling noise alerted her of the presence of a figure behind her. She spoke to the figure without even turning around.

"Did you get enough information, Sasuke?"

"Plenty." Sasuke replied, his sharingan blazing.

* * *

**Omake**

**Andrew: Hello people! It's been a while, hasn't it.**

**Naruto: It's been a while alright. People began forgetting you already.**

**Andrew: Well, I can't really give any excuse. I couldn't come up with the rest of the story for a while. In fact, I even decided what I would do after this, but I couldn't decide on this chapter.**

**Naruto: At least it wasn't an indefinite hiatus.**

**Andrew: Yeah, I think I won't stop writing this yet, atleast.**

**Naruto: So, what now?**

**Andrew: Now, we wrap it up. I won't be making any promises, but I hope to make quicker updates, on the same level as I did previously.**

**Naruto: Let's hope that you do, because the readers won't be happy with such a small chapter after this long.**

**Andrew: I know, I know. So wrapping it up, we'll be moving into the Chuunin exam arc next. Or will we? Find out next time on...**

**Naruto and Andrew (together): Blonde Haired Devil.**

**Andrew: You know what, this really is stupid.**

**Naruto: I've been telling you that for ages.**


End file.
